Fame
by Axellia
Summary: Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Miami has it all: The perfect ingredients for murder. Part 4 in the CSI Cheryl series [COMPLETE]
1. Chapter 1

**Okely dokely. I'll start with a disclaimer - CSI is not mine, neither is Miami, none of the characters (except Cheryl... oh, and the 'bad guys'/extra character people), the cars - simply, if you recognise it from the show, it's nothing to do with me. If you do recognise the characters I've made up, it is complete coincidence, as I know nobody named that, nor like them.**

**Ok, as I mentioned somewhere at the begining of writing this, this is all based on a bizarre dream I had. I'm trying to keep the charaters the same as much as possible, and I will admit now, there are places where they get OOC. The first two or three chapters are also a little fluffly, but some fluff is good... besides, it's my fic! And yeah, there are bits that might make you think, 'hmmm,' but let it pan out first! And then you can tell me you don't like it. Don't get me wrong, I'd like to know if you're liking it too.**

**Yeah, I'll shut up now, and let you read! Enjoy?**

* * *

'I am not doing it. It is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard of!' Exclaimed Cheryl, the latest edition to the Miami Dade Crime lab. Admittedly, she had been working there long enough to have a baby in the time, but she was the last person who had been hired by Horatio Caine.

'The mayor wants to say thank you for saving his son's life,' her uncle, Horatio, was trying to tell her objectively. They had found out that they were related on her first case, but it had been by fluke. In the process of trying to solve the case, Cheryl had been shot and the DNA results that had been needed for the officer-involved-shooting incident had revealed that they were related.

'Can't he say thank you by donating some money to something on my behalf?'

'He has already given the go ahead for an increased budget to the Crime Lab.'

Cheryl flung herself down on the chair, 'then why can't he leave it at that?' She asked him, resting her elbows on Horatio's desk, as she sunk her head into her hands. 'It's just ridiculous,' she repeated. 'How many lives have _you_ saved over the years? More than me, that's for sure!'

'He is using your Cocaine Procedure as the reason behind it.' The Cocaine Procedure was something Cheryl had created after a case she had been involved in at a club, where a girl had open fire at the guy standing next to her. It actually had nothing to do with drugs, but with GSR identification, or rather matching the GSR to the gun from which it had been fired. The name had been a mistake caused by Cheryl's computer when she had tried to save the Procedure as Carter-Caine Procedure. Instead it had been saved as the ccaine procedure, and after several people had called it the Cocaine Procedure, Cheryl hadn't been bothered to change it.

'But a level _4_!' She groaned, 'I can't even believe he got the approval for that.'

'It would seem he is well connected.'

'I'm not doing it, Horatio. It's bollocks.'

'Cheryl, whilst I am aware that the rest of the team may not be aware of English cuss words, I am, and I would appreciate you not using them around me, if at all.' Cheryl's mother was English and had come across to Miami on vacation twenty four years ago, met Raymond Caine, and had a brief fling, before returning to England, not knowing she was pregnant. Nine months later, Cheryl had been born and her mother had been unable to track down her father to let him know. Raymond had died only a few years ago, before Cheryl had ever had chance to meet him.

'I'm sorry, Horatio, but it is the biggest pile of nonsense ever dreamt up. People have a hard enough time believing I'm a level 3 because of my age. How on earth do you think people are going to react when I say I'm a level 4?' Cheryl was, at 23, the youngest CSI 3 in the country. Her mum, before she had died, had told her friends that it was because she was a gifted child.

Indeed, she had done two degrees and worked in the NYPD for two years in her twenty three years of life, but she had done nothing else. In fact, the only hobby Cheryl had involved her cars, and because of her young age, that had been a fairly recent hobby. Up until recently, she had been a bit of a workaholic, working all her days off and throwing herself into solving the latest crime, but now, she was relaxing a little bit more. She had even relaxed enough to be in a relationship.

'When they realise how competent you are at your job, I'm sure it won't be an issue.'

'You Horatio, are the eternal optimist. And you know it doesn't work that way. So please, tell him I don't want this and he should focus on improving his hurricane evacuation routes, or something, because it's a title I will never use!' She pounded her hand on the table.

'Cheryl, watch your temper. It's going to get you in trouble these days.' He cautioned her, 'look, go home, enjoy the rest of your afternoon off, and come in tomorrow fresh for your shift.'

She muttered something under her breath and stalked out of the lab, her long strawberry blonde hair flying behind her.

She drove back to her apartment at her usual speed of _barely-legal_, again -the model officer, and swung her Hummer into its usual parking spot. Dashing inside, she pulled her clothes off and changed into a pair of denim shorts and a white tank top, before heading back out with a bucket and sponge. Her Hummer wasn't exactly filthy, but it was due a wash. She plugged her earphones and switched her mp3 player to the cheesiest, and somewhat appropriate, song she had, Christina Aguilera's version of Carwash.

She was busy dancing about with the hose pipe, that she didn't notice the small audience she'd acquired. Eventually, a camera flash caught her attention, and she whipped around to find a blonde woman and a photographer taking her picture. She dropped the hose pipe and hurried over, 'can I help you?'

'Elle Swan, Miami Prophet.'

'Cheryl Carter, CSI,' she glared at the photographer.'

'CSI 4, I believe.'

Cheryl's mouth dropped open, 'how have you heard about that?'

'So you're not denying it?'

'Yeah, I'm denying it, that's not happened yet, and if I have my way, it won't either.'

'Is that your ride?'Elle asked her, pointing to the sud covered Hummer.

'Yes, why?'

'Is there a reason why it doesn't match the Crime Lab Hummers?'

'Because it's my Hummer, not the Crime Labs. Look, I really don't see what this has to do with anything. And if you think you can get something out of me regarding a case, then it's not going to happen – not even by you trying to catch me off guard. And on that note, this complex is private property, and I'd appreciate it if you left now.' She told them, pointing to the gate.

The reporter smiled, 'nice meeting you. No doubt we'll be seeing each other again in the future,' she turned quickly, her blonde hair flipping over her shoulder, and left, the photographer close behind her.

Cheryl frowned and stood watching until the reporter had driven off in her own red Hummer, although the reporter's was a H3, rather than a H2. _How on earth can a reporter afford a Hummer?_ She thought as she returned back to rinsing off her own car, in a slightly subdued mood, without her music.

She was still wondering about the reporter a while later when she had stripped off and jumped in the shower. The water was pounding down over her head, and the water was so hot, it had steamed up the shower's glass doors, as she stood there, her arms stretched out in front of her, so she was resting her weight on her arms against the shower wall. Behind her the door opened and someone stepped inside her. He walked up to her, and wrapped his arms around her, and kissed her neck.

She smiled, without turning around, and was about to greet her companion, but something made her stop what she was about to say, 'my God, Tim, you smell terrible.' She told him, as she turned around and flung her body wash at him.

'Decomp.' He told her.

'Yeah, the smell of death, kind of gave it away.' She informed him, 'did it not occur to you to take a shower?'

'What do you think I'm doing?'

'_Before_ you came to mine! God, I know I gave you some body wash.' A joint Chemistry degree, and being in a sorority meant that in Cheryl's final year at LSU, her and three other sisters had come together to create their own soap line for their final project. Cheryl had been the science behind what was now becoming a reputable company, in creating a soap which could rid the odour of most things from skin, including decomp. Since becoming a CSI, Cheryl had realised that marketing her soap in that area would increase their profit margin. However, death was not the image her other sisters wanted to associate with their brand, and as a result, very few CSIs were aware of its full potential. Cheryl, on the other hand, was using word of mouth at the Crime Lab, and hoping that the CSIs across the country would go out and buy it, if only to stop everyone smelling of lemons.

'Eric borrowed it off me, and has yet to return it.'

'Makes a change for someone to borrow something off you and not return it.' She smiled, as she squeezed some of the liquid onto a sponge and began rubbing it against him.

'What are you implying?'

'I have a message from Calleigh, borrow anything from her kit again, without asking, or replacing, and die.'

'It was only a bit of her finger print dust.' He replied indignantly.

'From what I hear, Mr. Speedle, you lifted a hotel bathroom, so it was hardly a _few_ lifts. She was caught short in a bakery and had to improvise using icing sugar.'

'And that's why she's such a good CSI – she can improvise.'

'The point is, she shouldn't have to because _you_ can't remember to restock your own kit. I've even told you to help yourself to mine.'

'We can't all be as OCD about our kits as you,' Cheryl made to flick him with the sponge, but he caught her wrists, 'besides; you and your Hummer were in court today, so I couldn't borrow anything.'

Cheryl opened her mouth, ready to tell him that he should have had the sense to restock before she went to court, and that he was a complete pain in the – but he seemed to realise what was coming and pre-silenced her with a kiss.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A little over an hour later, they were both out of the shower, smelling clean, and fresh, with no hints of death lingering on Speed's skin, lying on Cheryl's bed, both dressed in fluffy robes. Speed was flicking through the television channels, unable to settle on anything, whilst Cheryl was leaning against him, curled up under his arm. 'So how was court?' He asked her, finally settling on a documentary about ants.

'Same old. We're going to reconvene in the morning at stupid o'clock. But we should be done quite quickly. I have to be cross examined by the defence attorney, but it's an open and shut case.'

'It was Eric's first day back at work today.'

'Yeah, I know. I sent him a text when I had a break. He replied telling me he had the misfortune of working with you.'

'Hey!' He exclaimed, but stopped, seeing the mischievous glint in Cheryl's green eyes. 'You are dead,' he told her, reaching round to tickle her.

Cheryl squealed and dove out of the way, 'okay, you win, no tickling.'

Speed held his hands up, and Cheryl returned to where she had been sitting, growing quiet.

'Alright, what have you done?'

She took a deep breath, 'I called in to see Horatio on my way back from court. I've got some stupid promotion.'

'That's great! Wait, a promotion to what? You're not taking Horatio's job, are you?'

'Tim, could you really see me being in charge of a Crime Lab?'

'Well, does it involve you moving?'

'No. The mayor wants to make me a CSI 4.'

Speed burst out laughing, 'there's no such thing.'

'I think I realise that,' she grumbled, 'and so does the mayor, which is why he has managed to get _someone_ in the higher powers to agree to it being created. Especially for me. Will you stop laughing, it's not funny!'

'I know it's not, that's why it is.'

'How you managed to become a CSI amazes me sometimes.' She pouted, 'it's a load of nonsense, and I'm trying to get Horatio to get the mayor to change his mind.'

'All this for saving his son's life?'

'Yeah, although he's saying the real reason is because of that stupid procedure. How is anyone supposed to take me seriously now, with that number tagged after me?'

'Cheryl, just let it happen. When the mayor realises what a horrible mistake he's made, I can guarantee you he'll be revoking his decision as fast as you can say, _demotion_.'

'Gee, thanks.' She muttered, crossing her arms.

'You are so cute when you're sulking.'

Cheryl rolled her eyes, 'firstly, I'm not sulking, and secondly, stop being such a sap.'

Speed chuckled, leant over and kissed her, turning the television off as he did so.

* * *

**Well, thanks for reading! I promise there is a case under all this... just setting some foundations in. There's also going to be less of the fluffy stuff. I just wanted to see Speed, and Cheryl, to be happy for a bit, because it's not going to stay like that. Ah well. Oh, and the info included about Cheryl, had been, um, discovered in my other stories about her and the gang, so if it seems a little unbelieveable, have a gander at my past stuff, and you'll realise it aint that bad!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Oh yeah, for those who are reading this without reading the previous parts, Speed is still alive (I'm one of the many who had issues with him being killed off - and yes, I know Rory left of his own free will. But I don't care!), for the Ryan fans, he's in here later too. The only think I will say is, I am really concious about the rating of this story. If you think it needs to change at any point, please let me know!**

* * *

Tim awoke first. His eyes fluttered to the clock. He had about ten minutes before he needed to wake Cheryl so she could get up and go to court. He was tempted to wake her early, but he'd done that once, and he was not about to feel her wrath at being awoken at a, how did she put it, god-forsaken time, when even the sun wasn't up. It wasn't worth it. She was definitely not a morning person, and had been known to complain to Horatio about either switching to the night shift, or demanding that she hunt down the person who invented mornings and have them shot. He suppressed a laugh and contented himself with watching her sleep. 

She had sunk down below the pillows, so her head was directly on the mattress, her face pointing in his direction, with her mouth open slightly. The covers had slipped down during the night to reveal her bare, pale back, raising and falling with her breath. She was one of those who could be out in the sun all day every day and hardly change colour. He smiled and brushed away a lock of hair that had fallen into her face. It had taken him almost seven months of persistence to be in this position. And for once, in a very long time, he couldn't be happier. He gave her an extra five minutes, before starting to rouse her.

'Nope, it's not time yet,' she muttered, pulling her pillow over her head.

'You have court.' He whispered under the pillow.

'Don't care. Court can wait. Sleeping.'

He laughed again. How she had managed to get up in a morning, prior to him sharing a bed with her was beyond him. 'Come on, sleepy.' He tugged the pillow off her.

'No.' She groaned, rolling over into the foetal position, 'not ready. Good dream. Bed comfy.'

'You have ten seconds and I start tickling.'

Cheryl's eyes shot open, 'I hate you,' she told him, glaring at him.

'I love you too.'

They both stopped. Cheryl gaped at him for a moment. Speed froze. He didn't know what made him say that, but, he realised, he wasn't lying. Cheryl smiled, reached up and kissed him.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A couple of hours later and Cheryl had done in court. She turned her phone back on to find she had a message waiting for her from Horatio, telling her to get to the Mecury South Beach Hotel as soon as she was done. There had been a double murder at the exclusive hotel. She glanced down at her skirt-suit. The length of it, combined with the heels was hardly appropriate, but she didn't think Horatio would appreciate it if she was late. She hopped into her Skyline; Speed had taken the Hummer instead this morning, as he hadn't wanted to ride his bike to work in the rain.

A twenty minute car journey, which should have taken thirty, and she was parked up in the hotel parking and already in the elevator up to the penthouse suite. The door dinged open and she found only Horatio and Yelina there.

'Hey,' she looked around, 'where is everyone?'

'Morning Cheryl,' greeted Yelina, 'nice suit.'

'Sorry, I came straight from court.'

Horatio looked at his watch. 'You and I are going to have to have a little word about your driving, at some point.' He told her, well aware that she rarely drove the speed limit if she could get away with it. 'Especially as I am aware Speedle came in, in the Hummer this morning, and you do not have any lights or sirens on your other car.'

Cheryl opened her kit, which she had transferred from the Hummer that morning, just in case, and pulled on a pair of gloves. 'What happened?' She asked, trying to change the subject.

Horatio pulled off his sunglasses, 'this conversation is far from over, for the record.'

Cheryl nodded.

'Cole Turnall last night, after performing his Miami leg of his US tour, returned to his room with two ladies his assistant had picked. He took them back here, and had his merry way with them,' said Yelina, leading them both to the bodies, 'at some point between falling asleep last night, and waking up this morning, the two women appeared dead in his bed next to him.'

'Cole Turnall? As in the winner of that pop show competition, Cole Turnall?'

'Yes, so we have a high profile case on our hands. Just remember to dot your i's and cross you t's.'

Cheryl nodded and looked at the two dead women. They both looked like they were still sleeping peacefully, with the exception of the bluish hue that faintly stained their bodies. 'How does someone go to bed, with two women and not notice them dying in the night?'

'That,' said Horatio, as he turned to look at Cole who was sat on the other side of the room with another man, 'that is what we are going to find out.'

Cheryl headed over to the star with Horatio. They couldn't begin to process the body until Alexx had arrived, and according to Yelina, she was on her way.

'Morning, Gentlemen.' Said Horatio, as they joined the pop star and the other man.

'John Whilks. I'm Cole's personal assistant.' Said the other man, offering his hand out to the detectives.

'So, Mr. Whilks, Mr. Turnall, would you like to fill us in on what happened?' Asked Horatio.

'We finished the show around 10pm - it was an early finish last night,and Cole came straight back here. Normally, we stay on the tour bus, but as we are performing two nights here, we decided to push the boat out and get a room.' Explained Whilks. 'I picked two girls and brought them back up here for Cole at around 10.30. Ordered some room service for him and left around 10.45.'

'Room service delivered the food at around 11,' confirmed Yelina, looking at her notebook, 'champagne, strawberries and chocolate.'

'Sounds filling,' muttered Cheryl.

'Oh, I would call it satisfying, over filling,' said Cole, with a sly grin on his face. He had the whole Orlando Bloom look about him.

'What happened next?' Asked Horatio, with a quick look at Cheryl.

'Well,' said Cole, 'we had a bit of fun. Of the adult nature. A bit more champagne, a couple of sleeping tablets and I passed out. Must have been around 2am.'

'I came in this morning to wake him up for his appointment with his personal trainer, and found him still passed out, with these two next to him.' Added Whilks. 'I called you guys straight away.'

'Would you be willing to give a blood sample so we can confirm you took some sleeping tablets?' Asked Horatio.

'Of course.'

'Is there anyone else who has had access to the room?' Cheryl asked.

'Well, anybody, really.' Said Cole.

'You have a habit of opening your door to everyone?'

'No. I lost my key card.' Replied Cole, with a smug smile on his face.

'Are you kidding me?'

'Mr. Turnall, are you saying that it's possible that someone could have found your card, gotten into you room, and killed the two girls, even though the room numbers are not printed on the cards.' Enquired Yelina.

'The cards to the penthouse are gold. So if anyone was to find it, they'd know which room it belonged to.' Explained Horatio, 'however, did you report your card missing to the front desk?'

'No,' said Whilks, 'because we've only just realised it was missing.'

'Well isn't that convenient?' Cheryl muttered.

'I guess it is,' Cole told her, flashing her a smile.

'And do you know who the two ladies are?' Asked Horatio.

Cole grinned, 'I just know them as Amber and Xena. It's quite possible that they aren't their real names.'

Cheryl rolled her eyes. There were some people who thought being famous meant that they could do anything they wanted, even if it involved hurting and using people. It was a shame, because she actually liked his last single. Truth be told, she was one of those annoying people who had watched the entire series, from when he auditioned to winning the final show. Something which Tim had complained about every week she had made him watch the show with her.

'Okay, gentlemen. We are going to have to ask you to leave this room so we can process it,' explained Horatio, before Cheryl could make the comment she was going to. 'If you could follow Detective Salas here, she'll make sure someone takes a sample of your blood.' Yelina led the two men to the lift. 'Cheryl,' started Horatio.

'I was not going to say anything.'

Horatio raised an eyebrow at her.

'Don't look at me like that,' she whined, 'or I may have to resort to hiding your sunglasses.'

'Just get started processing this room, Cheryl. Eric will be here to help you shortly. Unlike you, he drives the speed limit.'

'That's what you think,' said Cheryl, but Horatio had already walked away.

She headed over to the bodies and began taking photographs. Horatio was right. She had taken three, when Eric turned up with Alexx. 'Hi guys,' she greeted them.

'Morning, sweetie,' returned Alexx, as she pulled on a pair of gloves, and stepped onto the bed.

'Hey, Cheryl,' said Eric.

Cheryl turned to face him, 'are you aware that Horatio thinks you actually drive the speed limit?'

From the bed, Alexx burst out laughing. 'Him? Do the speed limit?'

'You are just jealous, because H knows you don't.'

'Of course I am. How do you manage it?'

Eric grinned, 'that's my little secret.'

Cheryl glared at him, before turning her attention to Alexx. 'What have we got?'

'It looks like this girl died of a drug overdose,' she told them, indicating to a small puddle of vomit next to her, 'and judging from this white power,' she grabbed the swab Eric was offering her, 'I think it may be cocaine. But you're the drug expert, aren't you, honey.' She said, returning it to Eric.

Eric pulled out a small pallet and knocked a small bit of powder into three of the recesses, before dropping several different liquids into them. 'Positive for cocaine,' he confirmed.

Alexx smiled,' and what about you, baby?' She turned her attention to the other girl. 'petechial haemorrhaging. You were smothered, weren't you.' She said to her, stroking her face. 'I'll confirm it all back at the lab, for you.' She told the two CSIs.

'I spotted some more white powder on the table over there,' said Cheryl, pointing to the low coffee table, which was also covered in wine glasses and empty bottles.

'Have you got a time of death?' Asked Eric.

Alexx stuck her thermometer into the girl's livers. 'I would put it at approximately 4am.'

'Cole claims he was passed out at 2am.' Said Cheryl.

'So who killed the girls?' Asked Eric.

'Eric, honey,' said Alexx, 'you're the criminalist, you work it out.'

Cheryl laughed, 'she's got a point.'

'Hey, Cheryl,' said Eric.

'Yes?' Said Cheryl, slowly, not quite liking Eric's tone.

'Isn't it your turn to dust the hotel room?'

'Heh heh heh, no.' Said Cheryl.

'I did the last one.'

'You lost.'

'Fine,' said Eric, holding out his fist.

Cheryl sighed and did the same. 'One, two, three… crap.'

'Ha ha! You're doing prints.'

Alexx laughed, 'are you two still doing rock scissor paper?'

'What can I say?' Said Eric, holding up his hands, 'Cheryl hasn't grown up enough to get past playing school yard games.'

Cheryl stuck her tongue out at him. 'At least I won't have to collect what's in the trash can.'

The smile dropped from Eric's face, 'what's in the trash can?'

'Well, lets just say, Cole had a very busy night, last night. A _very_ busy night.' And with that, she wandered over to her kit and began pulling out her finger printing kit, as Eric walked over to the small trash can.

'Wow,' exclaimed Eric, 'he really did have a busy night.'

* * *

**Thanks for reading... let me know what you think!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Oh, I hope it's not too late to put this in, but this fic contiains spoliers from the episode, _Nothing to Lose_ (Season 3, episode 16)**

* * *

It had taken the best part of the day, but finally, Cheryl and Eric had finished processing the scene. Cheryl was never normally bothered about processing anything, but after taking over four hundred fingerprint lifts, she was a little tired, especially as she knew that about three hundred and ninety of them would not come to anything, and even then, that was being hopeful. She wiped a bead of sweat of her forehead. It was sweltering in the room. 

'Hot, isn't it?' Delko said, as he peered in the bathroom at her. She was on her knees, her head by the toilet bowl, trying to extract a fingernail which had become wedged between the floorboards. 'Someone had the clever idea of turning the air conditioning off.'

'Who had that bright idea?' She muttered, as she tugged at the nail.

'I don't know, but they're not short-listed to win a high IQ award. Are you ready to go?'

'I'm nearly done,' she told him, as she pulled it loose.

Eric grimaced, 'there are times when I never want to go on vacation.' He told her, as he watched her bag it.

'Did you bag the bed sheets?'

'There are times when I _really_ never want to go on vacation!'

'How did you fare with your time off?' She asked him, getting to her feet as gracefully as possible in a skirt.

'Now I know why you and Calleigh never wear skirts,' he said.

Cheryl glared at him.

'I was bored out of my mind, and I'm never going to complain again. But then again, I think I was better off than Horatio.'

'Why's that?'

'Simple. He only had Speed off our shift. You and I were in hospital, and Calleigh was suspended, so the team had to be bulked up with some of the swing-shift. The swing-shift and Speed,' he chuckled, 'I bet H was amused.'

Cheryl nodded, following him back to their kits. 'IAB are a pain. I tried hard not to get Calleigh in trouble. At the end of the day, she saved my life. There was nothing else she could have done.'

'Cheryl, you saved her job. The only reason she's still got it is because of you, and the only reason she got suspended is because of Rick and his vendetta against H.'

'You've noticed that too.' Cheryl bent down and grabbed her kit and a handful of evidence, Eric mimicking her. 'This is going to take forever to process,' she grumbled.

'You got plans tonight then?' Asked Eric, as he signalled an officer to give them a hand, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

'Eric Delko, you have a nasty mind. Do you really think any of us are going to get more than a couple of hours sleep tonight whilst this case is ongoing?'

'Who said anything about going home to get sleep? You're only young once. And you've got to remember that you've got a few more years in you than Speed has.'

Cheryl elbowed him playfully as they stepped into the elevator. 'You are a pain sometimes.'

'Actually, he's probably got a few more years on you these days, what with your ability to attract bullets.'

'Oh, ha ha. You're going the right way to attract a few of your own bullets!' Came her indignant response. They stepped out of the elevator and across the foyer, and started to walk down the steps out back to where their cars were parked.

'Excuse me?' Cheryl and Eric stopped and turned around. It was Cole.

'Can we help you?' Asked Eric.

'I was wondering if I could have a word with Detective Carter, actually.'

Cheryl frowned, 'I can't disclose anything about the case,' she said to him.

'It's about something else.'

She looked at Eric, who shrugged. 'Okay,' she told him, heaving her kit and the evidence into the back of the Hummer. 'I won't meet be long. I'll see you back at the Lab,' she told Eric, jingling her own keys at him.

'Just be careful,' he warned her.

She nodded and walked off in the direction Cole had gone. He was waiting outside by the pool. Despite the sunny weather, the area was deserted.

'What can I help you with, Mr. Tuner?'

'Cole, please. Oh, excuse me.' He leaned over and his hand into her hair.

Cheryl took a step back, 'Excuse _me_?'

Cole held up a leaf, 'sorry, this was in your hair,' he explained, holding the leaf out to her.

She took it off him and examined it, 'oh, sorry.'

'I wanted to ask you something.'

'As I've already told you, Mr. Turner, I cannot discuss anything pertaining to the case.'

'And as I have already said, this isn't anything to do with the case. I was hoping you would have dinner with me.'

Cheryl stopped and stared at him, 'this is an ongoing case, and technically, you're a suspect. It would be completely inappropriate, and unethical.'

'How about when this unfortunate incident has been cleared up?'

'Firstly, Cole, two young women have been found dead, in your room. It's hardly an _unfortunate incident_. Secondly, I am seeing someone anyway.'

Cole shrugged. 'Okay.' He turned around and left, leaving a very bewildered Cheryl staring after him.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Cheryl entered the Crime Lab, heading towards the print lab, bumping into a familiar face, 'Hey Suzie. What brings you to our neck of the woods? How's my little sister?' She asked, referring to Madison. Strictly speaking Madison was her half sister. Cheryl knew about Madison, and she also knew about Ray Junior.

And that's where it got complicated. Yelina, Raymond Senior's wife, and Raymond Junior's mother didn't know about Cheryl. She did know about Madison, but she assumed that Madison was Horatio's daughter. Suzie knew about both Cheryl and Raymond Junior, and also the fact that Yelina thought Madison was Horatio's. Although nothing had ever been said about Cheryl's father, or Yelina's relationship to her, Cheryl and Horatio both assumed Yelina thought the same about Cheryl.

Tim, Calleigh and Maxine Valera, the DNA, analysist knew about the relationship between Horatio and Cheryl but none had said anything about it to anyone, at both Cheryl and Horatio's request. In fact, it had been Valera and Calleigh who had found this fact out, and Tim who had pushed Cheryl into getting to know her uncle, much to her initial reluctance.

Suzie smiled thinly, 'Is Horatio around? I need his help with something.'

'Yeah,' said Cheryl, pointing down the hall to Horatio, who had clocked them, and was heading in their direction. 'Look, I'm really sorry, but I've got to go. Suzie, if anything was wrong, you'd tell me, wouldn't you?'

Suzie gave her small smile again, and Cheryl, knowing there was something wrong, carried on in the direction she had been heading, hoping it wasn't as bad as the million of worse-case scenarios going through her head.

'Suzie,' greeted Horatio.

'Horatio,' Suzie returned the greeting quietly.

'Hey.'

'Hi.'

'What's going on?' He asked her.

'I'm sorry to bother you at work,' she started.

'It's no problem,' he told her.

'I need your help with some paperwork.' She told him, shifting on the spot.

'Paperwork?' He took the papers off her and looked them over, 'Suzie, these are claim forms. Is this about Ray's pension?' He asked, staring intently at her face.

'Don't look at me like that,' said Suzie, breaking his gaze.

'I thought we agreed I was going to handle the financial responsibilities?' He muttered.

'I'm sorry, okay,' she said, 'it's an emergency. I really need the money.'

'What's the problem?'

'It's Madison.' Suzie stated, trying to keep her voice even.

'What about Madison?' Horatio asked her.

'Doctors said its something called AML.' She started to explain.

Horatio did a double take, 'Suzie, AML is Acute Myelogenous Leukaemia.'

Suzie nodded, 'yeah, I know.' Tears were starting to form in her eyes, 'it's a blood cancer. The doctors explained everything and it's um,' she faltered, 'not good.'

'Where is she?'

'She's at the hospital.' Her voice broke. 'It's a $1000 a day. I can't pay for that!'

'I don't want you to worry about that right now, okay?' Horatio told her, resting a handon her shoulder.

'Horatio, I can't keep going to you.' She told him, her fists curling up into stubborn little balls.

'Suzie, we're family,' he told her, 'I don't want you to worry about it.'

Suzie looked over at him, 'how long are you going to keep paying for Ray's mistakes?'

Horatio looked away. 'Here's what I want you to do.' He told her, avoiding the question. 'Head back to the hospital and be with Madison. She needs you right now, alright?'

'Okay.' She told him, flinging her arms around his neck. 'Thanks for bailing us out again.'

Horatio hugged her back, 'now don't worry about it. Don't worry, you're okay.' Suzie stopped hugging and broke away. Horatio turned around to find Yelina with one of her unreadable expressions on her face, 'hey,' he greeted her.

'Hi.'

'You remember Suzie?' He asked her.

Yelina smiled, 'hi, how are you,' she said to Suzie.

Horatio turned his attention back to Suzie, 'I'm going to take care of these and talk to you later,' he told her, indicating to the papers in his hand.

'Ok, thanks,' said Suzie, as she headed towards the elevator.

'Is everything ok?' Yelina asked him.

Horatio smiled at her, 'yeah, just, just some paperwork.'

Behind them, the elevator dinged. 'Can you hold that?' Yelina called to Suzie as she got on. Suzie nodded. Yelina turned back to Horatio, smiled and entered the elevator. Horatio smiled back at both of them. As the doors closed, he let out a heavy sigh and glanced back at the paperwork.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

'So what did the pop idol want?'

Cheryl flicked her head up, sending her hair cascading over her shoulders. She was about to start loading the prints into the computer, but had decided to remove her shoes first, as, not being used to heels, they were killing her feet. 'Not much really.'

'Not much, huh?' Said Eric, the scepticism lining his voice.

'He asked me out.' She turned her attention to the large pile of prints.

'I hope you told him no.'

Cheryl stopped, her hand mid-air with the first of many prints, 'of course I said no. What do you take me for?'

'Just checking. We don't want anything compromising the case.'

Cheryl rolled her eyes and returned her attention back to the prints.

'Besides, I wouldn't be a very good friend if I knew my friend's girlfriend was cheating on him.'

'Thanks for the concern, Eric, but Tim is the best thing to have happened to me in a long time.' Cheryl turned her attention back to the computer, settling down for several hour of immense boredom. Behind her, Eric left the room, a grin on his face.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Speed walked past the drinks machine and stopped. He headed over to it, stuck some coins in it and waited for the Hot Chocolate to pour. He wasn't partial to the stuff himself, but it was all Cheryl would drink. For some bizarre and twisted reason, she wouldn't touch coffee, the elixir of life for all police officials. She wouldn't even drink tea, which seemed to be the elixir of life for all English people. But that was just one of her many quirks he loved.

He headed to the print lab where Calleigh had told him she had buried herself in work. He stood in the doorway and watched her. She had kicked her shoes off and herbare legs were curled up underneath her. Working barefoot was another quirk of hers. As was working to some music. In this case, she was singing along to an appalling cheesy pop song. She had no discrimination to what she listened to, and in this instance it made for an unfortunate quirk. It was a truly dreadful song. He walked up behind her and slipped the drink on the table beside her.

She turned around and looked up at him. 'Thanks.'

He bent over and kissed her, 'my pleasure. I take it you're not ready to go home?'

'No, I'm going to finish uploading these prints so I can leave them running tonight.'

'How much have you got left?'

'I'm halfway. I'm going to be a while. Are you going back to mine?'

'That was the plan.'

Cheryl smiled, 'I'll be home as soon as I can,' she told him, stifling a yawn.

'See you later,' he gave her another kiss and headed off to the locker room, a wide grin on his face. He entered the room to find Eric in there, pulling a clean shirt over his head.

'You look like the cat that's got the cream.'

Speed grinned, 'have you seen what I'm sharing a bed with.'

Eric returned the grin, 'good point.'

Speed opened up his locker ad began gathering his things. 'I'm in love, Eric.'

Eric just shook his head.

'You can have that expression on your face all you want, but you'll feel the same about someone pretty soon.'

'That day is a long way off, I can tell you. I'm having far too much fun being single.' He shut his locker, 'see you tomorrow.' He left, leaving

Speed to gather up his things and do the same.

* * *

**I'm trying something slightly different for me, here, and adding the viewpoints of the other CSI characters, instead of just Cheryl's. I think it works, but let me know if you think otherwise.**

**Thanks for continuing to read!**


	4. Chapter 4

Cheryl yawned. It had taken a lot longer than she thought, but she had finally finished. If she headed home now, she would be able to grab a couple of hours sleep, a much needed shower, and change into some more comfortable shoes. She left the computer running, and left the building. Despite the hour, it was still busy as the night shift had long since come in and started on their various cases.

She drove straight home, parked her Skyline next to her Hummer and sneaked into her own apartment. Speed had fallen asleep in bed with the TV on. She didn't know what he had been watching, but right now, it was a documentary about monster trucks. She curled up under the covers next to him. He didn't even shift. Resting her head on his chest, she fell asleep watching the documentary, wondering if her Hummer would look as stupid as she thought it would if she tried to put five foot wheels on it.

When she awoke in the morning, Speed had already left. That was the problem with this job. They may work together, but sometimes, they never got to see each other. Cheryl pulled herself out of bed, swearing at the clock for showing an hour she didn't want to see, and headed straight for the shower.

Less than half an hour later, and she was showered, dressed (trainers, smart black jeans, and a white tank top) and prepared for a long day in the lab. Cheryl grabbed her mp3 player and rammed the headphones into her ears, turning up The Killers as loud as she could and headed into the kitchen. Seeing her keys to her Hummer were missing, she grabbed the others and headed outside, where she was met with a swarm of flashes.

Her eyes adjusted and she was surrounded by photographers. She didn't stick around to find out why they were there, instead running to her Skyline, pulling on her shades and gunning it out of the parking lot. Cheryl drove in amazement, wondering what on earth was going on. Surely being promoted wasn't that big of a deal. A lot of people got promoted. Why was she any different? Okay, so it was a nonsense promotion. But she hadn't even accepted it either. And thinking about it, how did they know?

She pulled up outside of the crime lab and wandered in, heading straight for the break room, wondering why many of the people she was passing in the hallway were giving her such a strange look.

In the break room she found Calleigh and Eric, both pouring themselves a cup of coffee.

'I see the star herself has decided to grace us with her presence.' Said Eric.

Cheryl glanced at the clock. She was early by a considerable amount of minutes. 'I'm sorry?'

'I thought you might have considered yourself too important for here anymore. Although you are wearing your sunglasses.'

Cheryl was about to say something when her phone started ringing. She glanced down at it. It was Tim.

'And would that be one of your many fans calling to congratulate you on your single handed success at saving the city?' Sneered Eric.

The phone call was forgotten about. Cheryl pulled her sunglasses up so they were resting on her hair. She didn't know where to start. 'Have I done something?'

'_Everything_, by the sounds of it,' exclaimed Eric, as he stormed out of the room.

'What's his problem?' She asked Calleigh, ignoring her phone which was ringing again.

Calleigh sighed and handed her a magazine and a newspaper. The magazine was one of the gossip ones Cheryl was always catching Valera reading, which was telling the world that such and such had just broken up with someone else, and another movie star was back with her druggie ex-boyfriend who was beating her again. In this case, the headline blared, _Cole Turnall's Heartbreak_. The accompanying picture was one of her and Cole which had to have been taken the previous day when he had asked to talk to her.

Her skirt was a little ruffled, and her button on her shirt was open lower than it should have been, whilst he had his hand on her in what looked like a very compromising position, although Cheryl knew it to be perfectly innocent. Cheryl sank into the sofa and tore the magazine open to the relevant page, to find herself reading about her and Cole being involved in a whirlwind romance.

There was also a picture of her washing her Hummer. The shorts she was wearing suddenly seeming a lot shorter than they had felt when she was wearing them, and her top had gone see-through in the water to reveal her bra. Cheryl was horrified. The picture looked almost suitable to go in a top-shelf magazine, especially with the trail of suds running down her leg, and her hair hanging in loose curls down her back. She looked like a semi-pornographic version of Daisy Duke.

Along with the picture of her washing the car, there was also one of her and Tim kissing, although she wasn't sure where it had been taken, however, judging from the clothes she was wearing, it had been taken yesterday. The caption next to it proclaiming she was cheating on Cole with Tim. Cheryl didn't know if she wanted to laugh or cry. Instead she turned to Calleigh, 'but this doesn't explain why Eric is acting weird.'

'Read the newspaper.'

'… _working with a sleuth team of CSIs under the leadership of Lieutenant Horatio Caine, is Detective Cheryl Carter, 21 year old child genius. Carter is not only responsible for saving the life of Michael Rollins, son of our Mayor, but is responsible for cracking many of the unsolved crimes in our city. Having recently spoken to Carter, it was discovered that as a reward for working so hard, she has been given her own Hummer from the Crime Lab, as well as being promoted to a level four CSI – an honour that has never been bestowed on anyone up until this point._

_Having graduated with an engineering degree from Cambridge University, the prestigious university in London, England, our English CSI began her second degree in Chemistry, Physics and Criminology, here in America, before heading to New York to whip the police department into shape. And now time finds her here at Miami Dade, but is our leading CSI as innocent as she claims? The answer is no. Whilst currently dating the chart's hottest member, Cole Turnall, Cheryl is cheating on him behind his back with colleague Tom Speedle. _

_As well as breaking the pop idol's heart, the CSI is also responsible for breaking bones. Cheryl is currently undergoing anger management classes in an attempt to curb her violence, but has still managed to break a medic's nose. Sources say that the reason for this unprovoked attacked was a result of the paramedic trying to administer antibiotics via needle. Perhaps the CSI is hiding a drug related past, and the outburst stems from her fear of returning down that path?'_

Cheryl looked over at Calleigh. 'They can't print this.

'They already did.'

'How can people, how can Eric be taking this seriously? It say's I'm a twenty-one year old ex-junkie.'

Calleigh sighed, 'but it also says you are pretty much responsible for single-handedly solving all the crimes that come through the Lab. Eric takes his work seriously. We all do.'

'Calleigh, I didn't say any of this. Don't you think if I was even going to try and claim responsibility for it, I would have made sure they at least got the basic details right, like my age? They even wrote that Cambridge University is in _London_.'

Calleigh sighed, 'I know. Eric knows this too. But you coming in here wearing sunglasses didn't help the situation.' She picked up her coffee and headed towards the door.

'Hang on,' said Cheryl, before Calleigh could leave. 'Are you telling me it's okay for Horatio to wear his sunglasses around here, day in, day out, but the one morning I come in wearing them, I'm automatically deemed a celebrity.'

'You're not Horatio. Besides, it was the one morning the article appeared in the paper.' Calleigh turned and left the room, leaving Cheryl staring after her, her mouth hanging open in amazement. It was not going to be a good day. And she'd only been up an hour. She sighed, not only was it going to be a bad day, it was going to be a long one too.

Her morning hot chocolate was forgotten about, as was her phone which she had flicked onto silent and stuffed into her pocket. Instead, she unenthusiastically pulled herself to her feet and headed down to the morgue where Alexx was waiting with the autopsy reports.

'Morning Alexx,' she greeted the ME wearily. 'Have you got the autopsy results on the two girls yet?'

'Girl number one was Amber White. Died first from a drug overdose. Cocaine. Second girl was Xena Doman. Only fifteen. She died second from exsanguinations due to suffocation.' She told Cheryl shortly.

The lack of friendliness in the ME told Cheryl one thing. 'You read the papers this morning then?'

'Giving away information on a case is one thing. Everybody does it at one point in their career. Even claiming credit on solving a couple of cases, but,' she said, stopping Cheryl before she could object, 'cheating on Timmy is another matter altogether.' Alexx pulled the sheets over the two girl's heads and slammed the beds back into the lockers.

'I am not cheating on Tim! Come on! The papers called him Tom! Didn't you think then, when you read it, that it was a load of rubbish.'

Alexx ripped her gloves off and flung them in a trash can, 'the photos say otherwise,' she told her, before storming out of the door and leaving Cheryl stood with her mouth flapping like a fish for the second time that morning.

Cheryl picked up the two folders Alexx had left and slowly made her way out of the morgue and into the corridor where she walked straight into Speed.

'Hi, hon-'

'Were you ever going to tell me?' He cut her off.

Cheryl looked up at him. He looked angry and upset. 'Nothing happened, Tim,' she told him quietly, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

'The photos say otherwise.' He told her, thrusting the incriminating magazine in her face.

She took a deep breath, 'Timothy, I don't do cheating. If a person feels the need to cheat, it's because there is something wrong the relationship, and as far as I'm concerned there is nothing wrong with ours. And trust me, after being cheated on, on more than one occasion, I would finish with you before putting you through that pain.'

'But he's rich, famous, younger and better looking than me,' he told her in a tight voice.

'I couldn't care less if he were Brad Pitt and was also the richest man in the world. I'm with you, and that's what I told him.' She told him, resting the palm of her hand against the side of his face. He looked at her for a couple of minutes before turning and walking off. Blinking back tears, she headed in the opposite direction, to see what the fingerprint analysis had kicked out.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Unlike Cheryl, Horatio's first trip that morning was to the hospital to visit his other niece. He wandered through the hospital until he found the private room Madison was in. He peered in. Inside, Madison was tucked up in a bed, with Suzie sat next to her looking just as lost as the small child. He tapped on the window. Suzie looked up, and after planting a quick kiss on Madison's forehead and exited the room.

'Hi,' Suzie greeted him.

'Hey, listen, how's she doing?'

'Tired.' Replied Suzie, 'Mad. She doesn't get why she's here'

'Well, that's, that's understandable,' he told her, 'I um, I spoke to the case manager on the way over and I don't want you to worry about the bills, alright?'

Suzie smiled weakly, 'thanks Horatio, but the bills are the least of it now.'

'Why do you say that?' He asked her.

'They took a blood test.' She told him, looking at her daughter. 'My bone marrow doesn't match.'

'Alright, so then, so then you need a donor.'

'Try to tell me I'm not a bad mother now.' Suzie told him angrily. 'Even my blood is no good for her.'

'Suzie,' he started, placing a hand on her shoulder, 'Suzie, erm, you know what, let me try something okay?'

'Horatio?'

'I'm family. You stay with her and I'll be right back.' He turned around and headed back down the corridor.

He found himself a nurse, who led him to an empty cubicle.

'You've given blood before, right?' The nurse asked him, as he rolled up his sleeve.

'I have,' he told her.

The nurse took a needle and stuck it in his arm, 'so, you're Miss Barnum's brother?' She asked him, as the blood began to fill the syringe.

'I am her brother-in-law.'

* * *

**Thank you for reading, and also for all the wonderful reviews so far! I promise I will actually reply to the reviews, I'm just incredibly slack!**


	5. Chapter 5

In front of the computer, fiddling about with something was Dan. 'Morning, Dan.' She said. Dan turned around, glared at her and walked off. Cheryl sighed and sank into the previously occupied chair. She wasn't overly surprised. Her and Dan hadn't been on the best of terms recently. Not since she'd destroyed his beloved Coldplay CD, despite the fact she'd given him a limited edition British version in replacement.

The computer had managed to match forty nine prints so far. Cheryl turned to the records the hotel had provided and began matching the prints to the previous guests to eliminate them. She was doing this an hour later when Horatio appeared at the door.

'No music today?' He asked her.

'Can't say I'm in the mood.'

'Yes. The papers.'

Cheryl turned around to face him. 'Please tell me you aren't about to say something about that, because I never spoke to the papers, and I certainly wouldn't say what was said.'

Horatio smiled sadly at her.

Cheryl rubbed her eyes. 'It's just a piece of fiction, Horatio.'

'It's not about the paper.'

Cheryl looked up at him, 'this is about what Suzie was her for yesterday.'

Horatio nodded.

'Madison?' She whispered.

'She has a form of Leukaemia, Cheryl.'

'Is it treatable?'

'She needs a matching donor. Neither Suzie or I are a positive match.'

'We have the same father, can I help?'

'It would mean a nurse taking a sample of your blood, and if it were a match, a bone marrow transplant.'

Cheryl shut her eyes. She could feel the blood draining from her face. 'Needles.' She murmured.

'I'm not,' he told her quietly, 'I'm not going to force you to do this.'

'You don't have to force me to do anything, Horatio. I'll do it, no doubt about it.'

Horatio smiled, 'I knew you would. We should go to the hospital.'

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

'How long have you known, Horatio?'

'Suzie came to see me yesterday, as you know. I knew nothing about it until then.'

Cheryl eased herself back into the hospital bed. The nurse had led them to the bed, and now they had to wait for another nurse to become available to take her blood. 'What happens if this doesn't work?'

'We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.' He took a seat next to her. 'So where did your phobia of needles come from?'

'Haven't you read the papers? I'm an ex-junkie who is afraid of returning back down that path.' She told him bitterly.

Horatio just stared at her with that look that felt like he was boring into her soul. It was a look which often made her pity the suspect who was at the receiving end of it.

'You wouldn't believe me if I told you.'

'Try me.'

'The dentist.'

'The dentist?' He repeated, with a small smile on his face.

'When I was little, I had to have a few teeth out. Apparently, my mouth is actually too small for the amount of teeth that are supposed to be in it. Anyway, I'm sat in the chair, with the dentist hovering over my mouth with a six inch needle, okay,' she said, looking at the expression on Horatio's face, 'it was smaller than six inches, but that doesn't matter when your dentist has allergies.'

'Phobias stem from the strangest places.'

Cheryl rubbed her tongue over the top of her teeth. She hated it when he came out with comments like him. And it wasn't distracting her from the upcoming needle. Speaking of which, the needle was now heading towards her, accompanied by a nurse. Nurses. They had the most sadistic job on the planet. They could pretend to be helping you, but if they wanted to cause pain, they could. Quite easily.

'I'm sorry?'

Cheryl looked over at him. 'I said that out loud, didn't I?'

Horatio nodded.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Cheryl sat rubbing her arm. The nurse had taken her blood a couple of hours ago, and she had since returned to the lab, and was back checking through the prints and visitors. And out of all the prints that had matched, none were relevant. There were three belonging to housekeeping, and they were all accounted for at the time of death. The rest were all tourists, the majority of which had come from outside of the country and had stayed there at least one month previously. If the prints weren't coming up with anything, she would have to look elsewhere.

She headed towards the trace lab, thankful that she had found Eric in the first place she looked, for once. He was busy with his nose down a microscope. He looked up, 'Carter.'

Cheryl sat down opposite, 'Delko.'

'In overnine months you have never addressed me by my surname.'

'In over nine months, neither have you.'

'The white powder was cocaine, as you know, but it also contained traces of lily pollen.'

'The only flowers in that room were roses.'

'So where did the pollen come from?'

'Back to the hotel room?'

Eric nodded. Give me ten minutes to put this evidence away. I'll meet you in reception.'

She was stood there, minutes later, when someone started shouting at her. 'I can't believe you lied to me.' Cheryl turned around to find Speed storming across the reception area towards her. 'You lied to me!' He repeated.

Cheryl looked at him blankly. She had no idea what he was talking about. 'What are you on about?'

Speed turned around, grabbed the television remote that lived behind the reception desk and turned the news channel on, on the television that was suspended above their heads.

Cheryl stared at the image on the screen. For a moment, she couldn't even hear what the reporter was being said. Instead, all that she could focus on was Cole Turnall kissing her. Except she had never kissed him. But the television was saying otherwise. There she was, in the same clothes she was wearing the other day, with her mouth locked against Cole's.

'That's not me.'

'No? Is that your twin then? Because she has the same scars as you do.' He yelled at her, as he pointed at the bullet scars that were on her arms.

Cheryl looked closer at the screen. 'That's me, but it's not me.' She said quietly. She couldn't understand it. In fact, she was beginning to question her sanity, at this point.

'That's the best you can come up with?' Speed had tears in his eyes now. He dug into his pocket and pulled out her keys to her Hummer and flung them at her. Then he pulled her apartment key of his key chain, flinging it in the same direction.

Cheryl stood there and allowed them to bounce off her, watching Speed storm off, back into the lab, tears also in her eyes. 'I didn't kiss him, though,' she whispered. She turned her attention back to the television, like all the other people in reception.

'…seen here, Cole is back with his girlfriend, Cheryl Carter, from the Miami Dade Crime Lab, who is also working on murder case Cole has been caught up in. A close friend of Cole has told Channel 6 News that Cheryl is doing everything in her power to get him cleared in this case. But the question that this reporter has, is how legal is this?'

'Are you having a laugh?' Moaned Cheryl. She turned to face Horatio, who had come over the moment he had heard Speed shouting, 'it's all-'

'You might want to consider that answer very carefully, Miss Carter.'

Cheryl turned back around to find herself face to face with Rick Stetler.'

'Internal Affairs, are you kidding me?' She exclaimed.

'Afternoon, Rick,' said Horatio.

'Horatio.'

'And what brings you here on this fine afternoon?

'I would have thought that was obvious, Horatio. Yet again, another member of your team has bought the integrity of this lab under scrutiny.'

'I have done no such thing!' Interjected Cheryl.

'Cheryl,' Horatio said quietly, in a warning tone.

'It is all over the news that your relationship with Cole Turnall is going to affect this case.' Said Rick, 'and then there is also the issue of your drug problem.'

'There is no relationship! And there is no drug problem!' Cried Cheryl.

By this point, Yelina, Eric and Calleigh had come over to join them. 'Is there problem?' Asked Yelina.

'Hello, Yelina,' said Rick.

'Yes, there is a problem,' said Cheryl. 'The problem is, everybody is believing what the news is saying, and not what I'm saying.'

'Where have you been this morning?' Asked Rick.

'Why is that relevant?' Asked Cheryl.

'Because, according to the news, you were with Cole this morning.'

'I've just told you, the news isn't telling the truth.'

'So you are saying the news is lying?'

'Yes!'

'Cheryl, the news checks their sources before they tell the public anything.' Said Calleigh quietly.

'Oh my God,' exclaimed Cheryl, 'are _you_ accusing me of lying now?'

'Where were you this morning?' Repeated Rick.

Cheryl looked over at Yelina, 'I can't tell you,' she said quietly, 'it's not my business to say.'

'Cheryl, you could save yourself a lot of trouble,' said Eric.

'Cheryl,' said Horatio, 'Cheryl, I want you to go and wait in my office.'

'But Horatio!'

'Now, Cheryl.' Horatio ordered, raising his voice. Cheryl stared at him. He never raised his voice unless he had to.

Cheryl nodded and did as he said, leaving the others.

'I'm not going to ignore this, Horatio.' Said Rick.

'I should hope not, Rick,' said Horatio. 'However, I take it you won't mind if I begin my own investigations.'

'So long as they don't interfere with mine,' he replied in a tight voice, before storming off into the Crime Lab.

'Excuse me,' said Yelina, and she left in the opposite direction.

'Eric, I want you to continue working on the Cole Turnall Case. Get Speedle in on it too. Tell him to give his case over to the night shift. Cheryl is obviously no longer on this.' Horatio told Eric, who hurried out in the direction Speed had gone.

'Horatio?' Questioned Calleigh in her soft, southern voice.

'Calleigh,' continued Horatio, 'Calleigh, I want you to run the investigation into Cheryl.'

'Is there anything I should know?'

'She doesn't have a drug problem.'

Calleigh nodded, 'the drug test will tell us that.'

Horatio sighed. 'She was at the hospital with me this morning.'

'Are you okay?' Asked Calleigh, instantly looking worried.

'Suzie Barnum.'

'Yes?'

'Her daughter, Madison, is also my niece. She was diagnosed with Leukaemia.'

'Yelina doesn't know about Madison either.' Said Calleigh, a look of understanding washing over her face.

Horatio nodded, 'Cheryl won't say where she was because she is protecting Yelina.'

Calleigh smiled, 'well, we will have to find another way to show Cheryl's innocence then.'

'I know you'll be able to.' Said Horatio, as Calleigh accepted her task. 'Right now, I need to go talk to Cheryl, before Rick does, and she loses her temper.'

Calleigh nodded and walked off into the Crime Lab, heading towards the Audio/Visual Lab. Horatio let out another sigh and headed towards his office.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Cheryl was pacing up and down Horatio's office, chewing agitatedly on her nails, something she never normally did, when Horatio got there. 'You shouldn't do that,' he told her, as he walked in and sat behind his desk. 'You'll hurt yourself.'

'Horatio, I didn't-'

'I know. That's why I have Calleigh working on it.'

Cheryl sank into the chair opposite, 'I won't say anything about where we were. It's none of Rick's business.'

'I know. And you won't have to.'

'I should go get back to the case.' Said Cheryl as she started to rise.

Horatio shook his head. 'You're off that case, Cheryl.'

'Horatio!' Exclaimed Cheryl, 'I thought you just said-'

'I just said _I_ believe you. Rick on the other hand, doesn't.'

'So you're going to punish me because someone is telling lies about me?'

'Cheryl, I want you to sit back and allow Calleigh and Rick to carry out their investigations, I know,' he told her, 'I know it's the last thing you want to do, but you are going to have to trust me on this.'

Cheryl stared intently at him, 'I do,' she sighed, slumping back into the chair, 'I do trust you, Horatio,' she repeated.


	6. Chapter 6

'You don't like the shape of that, then?' Said Eric. He had finally tracked Speed down, and located him in the locker room, punching the life out of his open locker door.

'Don't even go there, Delko.' Warned Speed, but he stopped punching the door.

'H wants you working the Turnall Case. Think you can tear yourself away from the locker long enough to find out who killed those girls?'

Speed pulled his locker door further open and looked at the inside of the door. Taped to it was a picture of him and Cheryl, taken a few weeks ago. They had gone out on a boat trip, and the first mate had insisted on taking a photo of the 'happy couple.' It had been his favourite – they both looked relaxed and happy. He tore it off the door, stared at it for a few moments longer, before crumpling it in his hand and letting it drop to the floor. He flung the locker door shut, but it bounced back.

'You ever tried to fit a square peg into a circular hole?' Asked Eric.

Speed pulled a face, 'what are you talking about?'

'Same principle,' he said, pointing at the door, 'you crumpled that door so badly, you aren't going to make it close.'

Speed glared at him, 'watch me,' he told him, kicking the door and jamming it shut.

'I stand corrected,' muttered Eric. 'I don't think she did it, Tim.'

'Have you got the cause of death?' He asked Eric, ignoring his comment.

Eric sighed. His friend had a rather pessimistic view on life most of the time, and on this occasion, it may do more damage than good. 'Cheryl went to get it, but I haven't seen it.'

'Let's go see Alexx, then.' Said Speed and walked swiftly out of the room.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

'Dan?' Called Calleigh, sticking her head around the doorway of the AV lab, 'Dan!'

'What's up, Calleigh?' Asked Dan, his head popping up from behind one of the desks.

'What are y'all doing?' She asked him.

'The cable for the speakers had worked itself loose. The cleaner probably caught it with her broom. I was plugging it back in.'

'I need your help with something.' She said, sitting down at one of the computers.

'This is to do with what happened in reception?'

'You heard about that already?'

Dan came around and sat down in the chair next to her, 'word travels fast in this place.'

Calleigh frowned, 'that it does.'

'Okay, so what do you want me to do?'

'The story is running now on Channel 4 News. Can you record it for me?'

'Easy.' Bragged Dan, pressing a few buttons on the keyboard. The news story flashed onto the screen. He pressed a few more buttons and the computer began to save what was being shown. 'Now what?'

'Now we find out what's going off in that clip. Can you enlarge the image?'

Dan nodded and zoomed in on the back of Cheryl.

'The bullet scars seem to match.' Said Calleigh, looking momentarily guilty. Dan, who didn't know what exactly had happened under the pier, said nothing.

'That's definitely Cheryl.' Confirmed Dan, clicking with his mouse, 'same height.'

'And that's definitely Cole?'

Dan switched to another monitor, pulled up google, and searched Cole Turnall and pulled up a web page, before returning to the other monitor and clicking on Cole a few more times with his mouse. 'Same height there too. According to this website, Cole has a small scar above his right eyebrow.' He zoomed in on Cole's face, 'and that looks like it there.'

'Is there any way this could be faked?'

Dan nodded, 'it's is entirely possible,' he peered at the screen, 'but if someone faked this, it's an excellent job.'

'Can you work on this, Dan? See if it's a fake?' Calleigh got up and left the room.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Cheryl was still chewing at her nails. Horatio had left her a while earlier, and she was sat stood in his office, where he had asked her to stay, staring out of the window at downtown Miami. Behind her, the door opened.

'I need a urine sample.'

Cheryl turned around to find Rick and two officers. 'And you can have one, but I'm not having them watch me whilst I give it you.'

'You are, Miss Carter.'

'It's _detective_,' spat Cheryl through gritted teeth.

'It's okay, Rick. I'll accompany Cheryl.' Said Calleigh, as she appeared next to him.

Cheryl sighed. Her day just kept getting worse. She nodded and followed Calleigh out and to the bathroom, where, despite her embarrassment, she produced a sample. She left the bathroom and headed to an interview room where they found Rick waiting for them.

'I want a hair sample, as well.'

Cheryl glared at him before pulling her hair out of its clip and shaking it free.

'Is this really necessary?' Asked Calleigh, as she cut a lock of Cheryl's hair.

'You know, as well as I do, urine only shows recent use of drugs. Hair samples can show drug usage from months ago, and judging from the length of Carter's hair, we have a few months here.' Said Rick.

'It's okay, Calleigh. I've never done drugs.' Said Cheryl quietly.

'You may be about to be cleared of the drug allegations, but there is still the issue of your tampering in the Turnall Case.'

'_Alleged_ tampering, Rick. You haven't proved any evidence tampering, and, guess what? You won't. Because I haven't.'

Rick smiled. 'Where were you this morning?'

Cheryl took a deep breath. 'I left the house at about 7.30am.'

'Have you got any witnesses to that?' Asked Calleigh.

'Only half the Miami paparazzi,' she told her. 'I got here about twenty minutes later.'

Rick looked at his file in front of him. 'You managed to get here from your apartment in twenty minutes?'

'Oh look, a crime I actually committed. I was speeding.' She said, sarcastically.

'What did you do next?' Asked Calleigh, trying to change the subject.

'I came in, had an argument with CSI Delko, had an argument with CSI Dusquane, went to see Dr. Alexx Woods, and had an argument with her, before leaving and having an argument with CSI Speedle,' said Cheryl. Her voice broke on Speed's name and she quickly coughed, 'and yes, the question of my _alleged_ relationship with Cole Turnall did crop up.'

'So your co-workers all believed you were having a relationship with Cole Turnall?' Asked Rick.

'It would appear so.' Replied Cheryl.

'Your co-workers who are CSIs and trained to spot lies.'

'It would appear so,' repeated Cheryl through gritted teeth.

'Your CSI co-workers thought you were lying about you relationship with Cole Turnall?'

'Am I going stupid, or have I just answered this question?' Flared Cheryl, slamming her fist on the table.

'That's quite a temper you have their,' said Rick quietly.

'What the hell has my temper got to do with having a relationship with someone?'

Rick smiled, 'nothing, but a quick temper is a classic characteristic of a drug user.'

Cheryl flung her arms in the air and leant back in the chair. 'This is bollocks, and you know it.'

'I would like to say, at this point,' interject Calleigh, 'that the argument Cheryl and I had this morning was about her _alleged _claims in solving the majority of cases, not her _alleged _relationship with Cole Turnall.'

'Thank you, Ms. Dusquane. However, we are interviewing Detective Carter here, not you. You will have your own say later when we interview you.' Said Rick. 'So,' he said, returning his attention to Cheryl, 'After you had all these disagreements, what did you do next?'

'I went to the lab to continue my fingerprint checks from the prints I had pulled from the hotel room yesterday. I was doing this for about an hour when Horatio appeared and we went to the hospital.'

'And was going to the hospital relevant to the case?'

'No.'

'Was it relevant to your current health?'

'No.'

'Or Lieutenant Caine's?'

'No.'

'So why did you go to the hospital?'

Cheryl took a deep breath. 'Personal reasons.'

'But you just said your visit wasn't pertaining to your health.' Said Rick, making a note on his notepad.

'It wasn't.'

'So why were you there?'

'Like I said, personal reasons.'

'Detective Carter, this could be relevant to the case.' Pressed Rick.

'Relevant or not, I'm not telling you why I was there. I just was. And there is Lieutenant Caine to witness me being there.'

Rick made another note, 'and where did you go afterwards?'

'Back here to the Lab.'

'You came straight back here?'

Cheryl sighed. 'No. I went for a drive, and had a small walk on the beach first.'

Rick smiled, 'is there anyone who can verify this?'

Cheryl shook her head. 'I wanted to be alone.'

'And why is that?'

'I wanted to clear my head.'

'And how long were you alone for?'

'About an hour.'

Rick's smile grew.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

'Hi Alexx, is this a bad time?' Speed asked Alexx, who was part way through sewing up the chest of another body.

'Hello boys,' greeted Alexx, 'for you two, it's never a bad time. Just let me finish this last stitch. A rarity in here,' she said, indicating to the body, 'died of natural causes,' she told them, as she tied the last knot.

'I can't remember the last DB I processed which died of natural causes.' Mused Eric, as Alexx pulled off her gloves.

'So what can I do for you two?' She asked them.

'We're here about the bodies from the Cole Turnall Case,' explained Speed.

'I gave my findings to Cheryl, this morning.'

'Cheryl's off the case,' said Speed, shortly.

Alexx pursed her lips, but said nothing, instead heading to where the two bodies were being stored. She pulled out the first one and draped back the white cloth. 'This here is Amber White, age twenty-two, from Tallahassee, here on vacation. Parents have already been to claim the body. She's being shipped out tomorrow morning. She died first, from a drug overdose. Tox came back; it's definitely because of cocaine.'

'Have you got a time of death on her?' Asked Eric.

'I checked the liver temp in the hotel room, and it put the TOD at about 4am. Same with girl two.' Alexx pulled out the second girl. 'This is Xena Doman. Poor baby is only fifteen. A local from here in Miami. Her parents are on their way back from Reno. She was knocked unconscious – there's evidence of blunt force trauma on the side of her head – which could also explain the lack of defensive wounds.'

'Any ideas on what caused that?'

'I don't know, Timmy. It looks like it could have been caused by a fist, but,' she turned the head around, 'there's evidence here of something small puncturing the skull.'

'What else?' Asked Speed as he took a picture of the puncture wound.

'She died from suffocation, as I suspected.'

'Any fibres?'

'No. Poor baby's nasal passages are clear.'

'That would explain the lack of death mask on the pillows when I checked them earlier.' Said Eric.

'I'm sorry I can't be more helpful.' Apologised Alexx.

'Don't worry, Alexx.' Said Eric, he turned to Speed, 'to the hotel?'

Speed nodded, and the two men turned to leave.

'Timmy,' called Alexx, after them, 'can I have a word?'

'I'll catch you up, he told Eric, before taking a deep breath and turning around. 'What's up Alexx?' He asked as Eric left, knowing that he already knew the answer to the question, as he asked it.

'Are you alright, sweetie?'

'I'm fine, Alexx,' he sighed.

'Those red eyes tell me otherwise.'

'It's over.' He told her shortly.

'Tim, I spoke to Cheryl earlier, and I honestly believe that the picture was nothing.'

'You haven't seen the news, then?'

'No, I've been doing an autopsy. Why?' She frowned.

'They have a film of him kissing her.'

'Him kissing her?'

'Him kissing her, her kissing him. It's all the same thing. The fact of the matter is it wasn't me, and the whole of Miami knows this.' He turned around and walked out.

**

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Thanks for reading, and thank you for all the lovely reviews that have been left.I'm glad to read that people have enjoyed reading it!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Just a friendly little reminder that this contains some spoilers from Season 3 Episode... 16? Yeah, episode 16, _Nothing To Lose_**

* * *

Calleigh wandered into the arena and watched Cole on stage. She hadn't followed the show, but he definitely had a good voice, there was no denying that. She wandered down to the stage, accompanied by Detective Frank Tripp, who she'd asked to help her. 

'The misses was obsessed with this show,' said Frank, as they waited for Cole to finish and join them, 'watched it every week. She liked one of the judges, though. Voted for the other guy too.'

'You watched it?'

'It was on.' He mumbled.

'It never held my interest past the first few weeks, when the people who thought they could sing, but couldn't, tried out.'

'Detectives?' The PA wandered over, followed closely by the pop star.

'Calleigh Dusquane, and Detective Tripp,' Frank introduced them.

'My, are all the women in the police force this attractive in Miami?' Asked Cole, eyeing up Calleigh.

'Back off, Cole. From what I hear, you have something going on with my colleague, Cheryl Carter.' Said Calleigh.

'Ah, is that what you're here for?' Said Cole, sitting down on one of the chairs, and opening a bottle of water Whilks gave him. 'Some guy was here earlier about that. Another cop.'

'Yes, I'm here conducting an investigation regarding that.'

'There's nothing to investigate. We are in a relationship.'

'And how long have you been in this relationship?'

'Who am I kidding? When I say relationship, I mean, sex.' He smiled, 'she's a little spitfire in the sack.'

'Hey!' Exclaimed Frank.

'Mr Turnall,' said Calleigh, after a quick glare at Frank, 'are you telling me that a woman you don't know is prepared to risk her career to get you off a murder charge?'

'Well, actually, I haven't been charged.' He told Calleigh smugly, 'I guess she's doing what she promised.'

'And that promise was?'

'To make sure I don't get _wrongly_ accused of murder.'

'We'll see about that, Mr Turnall.'

'Is that a threat?' Asked Whilks.

'No, that's a promise.' Said Calleigh, with a wide and white, toothy smile. She turned around quickly, her hair flipping out behind her, and left, Frank close behind her.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

'You know, I wouldn't mind being a pop star.' Declared Eric as he and Speed were looking around the penthouse suite.

'You fancy yourself as the next Ricky Martin?' Snickered Speed.

'I was thinking more along the lines of Eminem, actually.'

'So, should we start calling you "E 'n' D"? Or how about just, End?' Speed suggested, barely able to contain his laughter.

'It'll be _The End _for you, if you don't put an end to the lame jokes.'

'Delko, you hurt me,' sighed Speed, clutching at his heart.

Eric frowned. He knew exactly what was hurting Speedle, and it wasn't him. But if he was joking – however lame the jokes were, and however out of character it was for him, then he'd allow it. For now.

'This room is so warm.' Complained Speed.

Eric chuckled, being as he was from New York originally, Speedle was never happy with the temperature when it was warm, and always had the air conditioning set to cold. He was similar to Cheryl in that respect, who as she was originally from England, also liked the pleasure an air conditioning unit could bring. Delko, on the other hand, loved the heat. Except this was stupid.

'Yeah, Cheryl and I noticed that earlier. She spent the entire time she was dusting, telling me so.'

Tim frowned and turned his attention back to the room. 'Well, there are no flowers in this room, anywhere, other than roses. And according to housekeeping, they didn't put any others in here.'

'I suggest we go find Cole and his assistant then, and have a word with him.'

'He's apparently on his tour bus.'

'A tour bus. I wouldn't mind a tour bus.'

'Come on End,' said Speed, swiping at Eric, 'your fans are waiting.'

'You just kill me, you know that?'

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Horatio found himself back at the hospital, staring in at Madison, whose tiny frame was lost in the enormous hospital bed, whilst clutching tightly at her teddy bear. Suzie was sat next to her, fast asleep with her head resting on the bed. She awoke with a jump when Horatio entered the room.

'Horatio,' she greeted him, half yawning.

'Hi, Suzie.' He smiled sadly, 'Cheryl came in to find out if she was a match.'

Suzie managed a small laugh, 'and how is the nurse?'

Horatio smiled back at her, 'alive.'

'She wasn't a match, was she?'

Horatio shook his head and sat down opposite her, 'no,' he told her, 'no she wasn't, but don't worry. We still have one more thing to try.'

Suzie winced, 'are you sure you want to do that?'

'It would appear that time has come,' he told her softly.

Tears appeared in Suzie's eyes as she sat back in her chair, 'thank you, Horatio. Let's hope it works.'

'Let's hope it does,' he repeated, staring at his niece.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

'Nice bus,' said Eric, commenting on the new black vehicle.

'Are you sure you don't want to quit your job as a criminalist and pursue a music career now?' Exclaimed Speed, who had been listening to Eric's claims he could break the charts, given half a chance, all the way over.

'Tempting as it is, my mom wouldn't appreciate her son becoming a music artist. I wanted to be in a band when I was in high school, but she said it was a sinful life and an unacceptable career for a good catholic boy.' He told him as they knocked on the bus door.

'A good catholic boy? When was the last time you saw your mom?'

Eric grinned, 'a long enough time ago for her to think I'm still a good catholic boy.' He knocked on the door again, 'besides, I don't think the world is quite ready for the musical debut of Eric Delko.'

The door of the bus opened and the PA stood glaring at them, 'three times in as many hours? Isn't that classed as harassment?'

'It's only harassment if we keep asking the same questions.' Said Speed.

'Yeah, that's what the blonde chick said earlier.'

'Cheryl was here?' Speed growled.

'No, Cole's bit wasn't here. It was that southern bird you've got working with you, but she's a bit of alright too.

Eric put his arm out, stopping Tim from stepping forward as he looked like he wanted to punch someone. 'That's an interesting stain on your shirt cuff, Mr. Whilks,' said Eric, indicating to a small patch of yellow.

Whilks looked down at it, 'and what's that got to do with you?'

'Would you mind if I took a sample of that?'

'Yeah, I do. I know what you cops are like. I've had enough of this, _harassment_. If you guys want anything else, then you come back here with a warrant, because you're getting nothing else out of either me, or Cole. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a show to see to.' He pushed a button, shutting the bus door in their faces.

'Do you get the feeling he's trying to hide something?' Asked Eric, as they headed back to the Hummer.

'What? Like the lily pollen stain?' Remarked Speed.

'More like a murder. Has anyone run a check on him?'

'Eric, I joined you on this case a little over an hour ago. How am I supposed to know that?'

Delko gave him a look, before opening the back of the Hummer. Switching on the computer that was in the back of it, he typed in John Whilks and began a search through the various databases. It didn't take long before the computer was beeping at them, indicating a hit.

'Arrested in '94 for possession, again in '98, and for dealing in '01. Currently out on good behaviour.' Eric grinned, 'I think we may have enough for that warrant he so badly wants,' he told Speed as he pulled out his phone and dialled the judge.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

After being released from the questioning, Cheryl returned to Horatio's office and had since managed to play about one hundred games of free cell on his computer. And being as her mind was elsewhere, she had managed to loose about ninety eight of them, which was frustrating her further.

She got up and went for a walk, the whole time being stared at by whatever person she walked past. She headed for the locker room and sat down on the bench opposite her locker. Putting her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands, she shut her eyes and took some deep breaths. This sitting around was driving her mad. With her head still in her hands, she opened her eyes, and found herself focusing on a screwed up piece of paper. She reached down and opened it. It was a picture of her and Tim.

Glancing over at his locker, she saw that, well, he had kicked it that much, he probably had no chance of ever opening it again. Cheryl took a final deep breath, wiped the tears away that had appeared in her eyes and went over to her own locker. She took an envelope out of it, and replaced it with the photo she had smoothed out as much as possible, before shutting her locker and walking determinedly back into the Lab.

She walked straight to the AV Lab, where she found Dan pouring over a computer. 'I need your help.' She told the back of his head, bluntly.

He turned around. 'Or else what? Are you going to destroy another CD? Or are you going to go to the papers?

Cheryl winced, 'okay, the CD comment I deserved, but the papers comment was uncalled for. However, I did replace that CD.'

'That's not the point. You destroyed it in the first place.'

'You're right. That was out of order, and I do need to control my anger. Which is why I come trying to buy my forgiveness.' She held out the envelope.

'You're not going to be able to buy it back that easily,' he said, taking the envelope off her wearily. He opened it up, peered inside and pulled out two tickets. 'Front row tickets?' He squealed.

Cheryl nodded, 'for Coldplay's final night in Florida. I had to pull in a favour for them.'

'Who off? Your new pop star boyfriend?'

'He is not my boyfriend.' She said slowly.

Dan held up his hands, 'okay, I'm sorry. And you're forgiven. Thank you. Just make sure you don't go destroying any more CDs.' He tucked the tickets into his pocket, 'so, what can I help you with?'

'Proving my innocence.'

'Calleigh is already working on that.'

'I know, but it's taking too long. I have to do something.'

'What do you have in mind?' He asked her cautiously.

'A little re-enactment.'

'You want me to make out with you?' He said, with a grin on his face.

'Dan!' She exclaimed, 'I want you to help me prove that photo was completely innocent, with no _making out_ involved!'

'You can't blame a guy for trying.'

'You could always try getting a girlfriend.'

'Do you want my help, or not?'

Cheryl nodded, 'yeah. Fancy a little road trip, do some fieldwork?'

'No can do. I've got to do something here for Calleigh. You'll have to get someone else.'

'I'll think of someone. Am I okay to take a few cameras and a laptop with me?'

Dan pointed to a cupboard at the back of the room. 'Knock yourself out. Just don't destroy anything!'

* * *

**Don't you just miss Speed and Delko working together! Hopefully by the end of the current season things will be better and more friendly. (Sorry, that's me trying to be as vague as possible for those who haven't seen any of season 4... and probably failing miserably!)**

**Thanks again for reading and reviewing!**


	8. Chapter 8

Half an hour later, Speed and Delko had the required paperwork and were banging on the bus door again.

'What do you want this time?' Asked Whilks.

'A look around your bus.' Said Speed, with a smile, brandishing the warrant. Whilks snatched it off him and ripped it open.

'And a sample of this,' said Delko, cheerfully, taking a tape lift of the pollen stain from Whilks' sleeve. 'And if you wouldn't mind leaving the bus and standing with that nice officer over there.' Whilks glared at them, but got off the bus, allowing Eric and Tim to board.

'Wow, this bus is almost as big as my apartment!' Exclaimed Tim.

'Now, is that your apartment, or Cheryl's?'

'_My_ apartment, Delko. And being as you've seen both, why do you need to ask?'

Eric shrugged, 'just making sure you know what you've got.'

'I've not got anything, anymore.'

'Tim, don't give up on what you have.' Said Eric, sadly.

'Delko, we're here to find out who killed those girls, not to discuss my living arrangements.' He shone his torch down the bus, and allowed the light to settle on a bunch of flowers.

'Lilies.'

'And guess what I found?' Said Eric, his hand pulling something golden out of a trash can.

'Is that a credit card?'

'Nope. This is a key card. And I suspect it's the same card Cole claimed he lost.'

'Which means, the only people with access to the room are the pop star and his PA.'

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

'Thanks for agreeing to help, Officer Wolfe.' Said Cheryl, holding a blown-up version of the picture of her and Cole, trying to find the location of where the camera had been when the photograph had been taken.

'No problem, Detective. And, it's Ryan.'

'Just Cheryl, will do, too.' She glanced at the laptop monitor, 'a step to your right, and we've got it.'

Ryan nodded and set the camcorder up on a tripod, whilst Cheryl set another one up, of the same picture but from a different location. Plugging them both into the laptop she set up a split-screen of the two images, before walking over to where she had been stood.

'Okay,' she said looking down at the photograph, 'you need to stand right in front of me.'

'Um, Cheryl,' started Ryan as he came and stood in front of her, 'I know I agreed to help, but what exactly are we doing?'

'We are proving that, from the right angle, even something innocent can appear incriminating. Basically, I am trying to prove that nothing happened between Cole and I, and he is trying to set me up, so that the case can get thrown out of the window when he gets charged for a double homicide.'

'And so you don't get charged with tampering with evidence.'

Cheryl nodded. 'Right, I want you to get a leaf out of my hair.'

'What leaf?'

'That's a good point,' she frowned and walked over to her kit. Inside was the leaf from the previous day. She plucked it out and handed it to Ryan. 'Normally, I wear my hair up at a crime scene. I don't know why I didn't yesterday. I'm a firm believer there's a good chance my hair could contaminate a crime scene. Though, in this case, it would seem the crime scene contaminated me.'

Ryan looked around, 'this leaf isn't from around here,' he told her after checking all the plants in sight. 'This is a leaf from a lily.'

'How on earth do you know that?'

'My grandfather is a keen horticulturalist. It rubbed off on me, a little.'

Cheryl broke out a bright smile, 'and that means two things. Firstly, he _is_ setting me up. Secondly, he has had access to the cocaine.'

'Cocaine?'

'Oh, one of the victim's died from a cocaine overdose, and we found traces of lily pollen in it.' She stepped back into position, 'okay, take the leaf from my hair.'

Ryan reached his arm out to in her hair, by her ear.

'Freeze,' said Cheryl. They both glanced at the laptop. The picture from the camera where the photograph had been taken matched the photograph, whilst the other camera showed exactly what Ryan was doing. 'Bingo!'

'I'm sorry Cheryl, and I know we have just shown what was really happening with the photograph here, but it doesn't explain something.'

Cheryl frowned, 'what?'

'Why are your clothes looking so ruffled?' He asked, indicating to the photograph.

'Oh, that's simple. The skirt was ruffled because I had just been on my hands and knees processing a scene, and hadn't straightened it out properly. The shirt button, well, the crime scene was really hot, and that was as low as I could take it whilst keeping it decent.'

'Cheryl, I'm sorry if I'm out of line for saying this, but next time, I'd keep the shirt buttoned up that extra button, regardless of how hot a crime scene is.'

'How hot a crime scene is. Ryan, that's it. That's the missing link!'

Ryan looked blankly at her, 'what's the missing link?'

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Cheryl walked back into the crime lab a while later feeling slightly better. She was still getting some strange looks, but she knew she was slowly getting there at proving her innocence. The feeling dropped slightly when Calleigh spotted her walking in and headed straight in her direction.

'Where have y'all been?' She demanded.

Cheryl handed the laptop over, 'proving that the photograph is a fake.'

'Cheryl, you should be leaving that to me!' She told her, furiously, dragging her into a nearby room. 'If Rick finds out, y'all are in serious trouble. I thought Horatio told you to let me handle this?'

'I can't just do nothing, Calleigh. Not only is my career riding on this, but my relationship is too.'

Calleigh's expression softened. 'Look, I think we are getting somewhere. Dan and I think the film is fake.'

'You _think_?'

'Alright, we _know_ it's a fake, but we think we can prove it. Dan is analysing the image now. And I've spoken to Cole, but he's not saying anything that would make a judge think otherwise, Cheryl.' She sat down. 'I need to know where you were for that hour earlier.'

'I can't say.'

'Is it to do with Madison?'

Cheryl gaped at her, 'you know about Madison?'

'Horatio told me, but don't worry,' she said, seeing the alarm wash over Cheryl's face, 'I'm not going to say anything. If you went somewhere to clear your head because you were thinking about her, then that's fine. We can just check traffic cameras. In fact, don't you have that GPS thing in your cars, so we could use that as proof of where you had been?'

'It wouldn't work, Calleigh,' sighed Cheryl, 'I never really left the hospital. I said I did, I know. But I was really with Madison.'

'Oh.'

'You can't say anything. I know it will get back to Yelina if Rick is involved, and I can't do that to Horatio.'

Calleigh nodded, 'okay. Then we have to try something else. If that image is fake, then it must be two images edited together. Think Cheryl, where were you when you were wearing those clothes?'

'It was the day before yesterday. I was in court all day.'

'You didn't go anywhere else?'

Cheryl shook her head. 'I was there all morning, met Tim for lunch outside, spent the afternoon inside court again, before popping in here on my way back to see Horatio. The second I got back I changed and washed my Hummer.'

Calleigh's head perked up, 'when you met Speedle, did you kiss him?'

'Of course I kissed him. But that was outside the courthouse, before this whole case started. How would a reporter know to be filming us? The only way would be if they,' she stopped, 'they knew about my promotion. I guess they could know about it before I did. They certainly knew about it when I was washing my car that evening.'

'Cheryl, do you remember who the reporter was?'

'Yeah, Elle Swan from the Miami Prophet.'

'Right, I'm off to the Miami Prophet headquarters to see Ms Swan. And Cheryl,' she said, as she was halfway out of the door, 'please stay out of my case. For your own good!' Cheryl nodded and took a seat, watching Calleigh's hair flying out behind her as she left the room.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Cheryl glanced at her watch. She had been sat there for the best part of all of ten minutes, and she knew she couldn't stay where she was. She got up and wandered out into the crime lab. It was still busy, so she wandered down the corridors, eventually finding herself at the morgue. She headed in, with the intention of trying to clear the air with Alexx, but the ME was nowhere to be found.

Instead, Cheryl's attention was drawn to a sheet covered body on one of the gurneys. Curious, she pulled it back, and found herself looking at the body of Xena Doman. Even in death, she was a pretty Latina girl, with thick black hair, and a thick black eyelashes. Cheryl stood looking at her for a moment until her attention was drawn to something over the girl's mouth. She grabbed a UV light from the side, and attached a red screen before shining the light on the girl.

The light instantly picked out a hand shaped bruise over the girl's mouth and nose. Cheryl's mouth dropped open. _Someone _had smothered the girl, not _something_. She grabbed the camera and started taking pictures. She was on her fifth, when the door opened behind her.

'And what do you think you are doing?'

'Alexx, come look at this,' she said, without looking up.

Alexx walked over, 'I thought you were off this case?'

'I came to see you, but you weren't here, so I,' she sighed, 'you can take the girl out of the Crime Lab, but you can't take the criminalist out of the girl. I got nosey. And by the looks of things, it might be a good thing. What do you make of that?'

Alexx looked at the bruising and gasped. 'Given the time of death, this should have appeared hours ago.'

'Alexx, does that mean the TOD is wrong.'

Alexx nodded, 'by a couple hours at least. Something had to alter this.'

'Could heat do it?'

'For every hour the body is dead, the liver temperature decreases proportionally.'

'But if the body was kept warm,' said Cheryl slowly, thinking of how warm the crime scene had been.

'Then the liver temp would have stayed warm, making the time of death seem later than it was.' Finished Alexx.

'But surely the heat would have affected the outcome of the bruising.'

'Normally, yes, but the tox report indicated that this girl also had high levels of cocaine in her, and that would have affected the bruising.'

'So, if Cole Turnall claimed he passed out at about 2am, then, whilst originally, the TOD would mean he had been out cold, the new TOD would mean that he could have done it?'

Alexx nodded and smiled, 'yes.' The smile dropped from her face, 'but you aren't supposed to be working on this case.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

'This key card is definitely to the penthouse suite,' said Eric from a computer, 'and the only fingerprints on it match Turnall and Whilks.'

'And we have a match,' said Speed, as he sat back from the microscope. 'The lily pollen from Whilks' sleeve, the lily pollen from the flowers, and the pollen from the cocaine are all a perfect match.'

'But that still leaves us with a problem. Whilks may be responsible for supplying the cocaine, but we have witnesses saying Whilks was at the bar at the TOD of the two victims. And the tox report came back on Turnall's blood. The sleeping tablet residue means that he was definitely out for the count when they died.'

'What if I told you the TOD was out by about two hours?' Cheryl asked from the doorway.

'I'd tell you, you shouldn't be on this case.' Said Eric.

Cheryl glanced over at Speed, who was deliberately not looking at her. She sighed and leaned against the doorframe. 'Which is why I'm telling you guys, so you can follow up on it.'

'Alright, what do you have?' Eric asked.

'You remember how stupidly warm that room was? Well, someone altered the AC thermostat, which altered the temperatures of the bodies, and ultimately altered the TOD.' She handed the pictures of the handprint bruise over to Eric, 'and the second girl was smothered by a hand.'

'Thanks, Cheryl. We should take it from here, though.' Eric told her, taking the photographs off her.

Cheryl smiled at him and then looked over at Speed. He was still ignoring her. She sighed again, but left the room.

'Was that really necessary?'

'What?'

'Ignoring her.'

'Yeah. I think it was.'

Eric cuffed him with the photographs. 'At least when Cheryl's acting childish, she has a decent excuse, considering her age. You on the other hand, are being stupid. If you're not careful, you're going to blow it.'

'It's already been blown, Eric. I don't give cheaters a second chance.'

'And so you shouldn't, but why are you so sure she cheated on you? She may be a lot of things, but one thing she definitely is, is in love with you. She wouldn't risk it.'

'Did you not see the photographs?' He asked him in a strangled voice.

'Calleigh is out proving they're fake.'

'From what I hear, you were giving her a hard time about it.'

'I was giving her a hard time about the claims in the paper about her solving all the cases. I would have forgiven her eventually,' he told him stubbornly. 'Besides, this is about you and her, not me and her. I'm not the one that's seeing her.'

'And neither am I,' Speed grumbled. He held up the tox report. 'There's a problem here.'

Eric sighed, 'what?'

'According to this, even if the TOD for the girls is 2am, Cole would have passed out around 1am.'

'Which means he still wouldn't have been able to do it.' He paused, 'unless he doped up, afterwards.'

'I think we should have a little chat with our superstar, and his assistant.'


	9. Chapter 9

**A chapter with a fair bit of Horatio in it... not doing any work, as per usual, lol! Anyone else noticed how he doesn't ever seem to do any forensic work these days, he just does the 'cop' work.**

**Anyhoos, there are still some _Nothing to Lose _spoilers, although if you have read this far, I guess you know that... but just incase you have forgotten.**

* * *

After spending a few hours with Madison and Suzie, Horatio headed back to the Crime Lab feeling very weary. He was about to do something he hoped he would never have to, yet knew he someday would. He headed to one of the corridors which he knew would be empty, and waited.

'Hey, it sounded urgent.' Horatio looked up, it was Yelina. 'What's up?'

'Have a seat.' He told her, indicating to the free chairs next to him.

Yelina slowly did as he said. 'That look in your eyes. I've only seen it once before.' She said cautiously, a worried expression on her face.

'Suzie Barnum, Yelina.' He told her simply.

Yelina nodded, 'from the elevator. Yes,' she paused, 'I, um, already told you. You don't have to explain yourself.'

Horatio sighed, 'I mentioned that there are complications with Suzie, and there are.'

'Yes?'

'Madison is not my daughter,' he told her, as simply and slowly as he could.

Yelina shifted her position to a more upright one. 'What do you mean, not your daughter. She looks just like,' she hesitated, 'like,' she paused again, 'Ray,' she finished quietly.

'I'm sorry.' He apologised, 'I'm so sorry, Yelina.' He repeated softly.

'How long have you known?' She asked, taking a deep breath.

'I've known all along.'

'Then why?' She asked, her temper beginning to flare. 'Why tell me now?'

'Madison is sick.' He told her, managing to remain calm. 'She needs a bone marrow transplant. And it turns out that I'm not a match, but she does need a relative as a donor.'

'I'm no relative to that girl!' Yelina told him bitterly,

'I know that.' Horatio told her gently.

'Ray Jr?' Exclaimed Yelina, 'what Ray did, is what Ray did. My son, _his_ son should not have to pay for it. I won't let him.'

'Yelina, the child could die.' Explained Horatio. There was a hint of urgency in his voice now.

'I can't.' She whispered.

'Whether we like it or not, Madison is family.'

Yelina got to her feet. 'Not my family.' She told him, walking off.

Horatio sat on his chair and sadly watched her leave. Now what?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

'Hey, Dan,' greeted Calleigh as she walked back into the AV Lab.

'Hello again, Calleigh,' he returned the greeting, 'what do you have there?' He asked her, indicating to a stack of videos under her arm.

'An idea.'

'Want to share?'

'I do indeed,' she told him, as she placed the videos on the desk and took a seat next to him. 'This here is security footage from the courthouse, from Monday.'

'And this is relevant how?'

'Well, Cheryl met Speedle during the lunch break when she was in court.' She started.

'And like all good couples, they greeted each other with a kiss,' finished Dan.

Calleigh smiled, 'and somewhere on these tapes will be that moment. According to Cheryl, she wore those clothes,' she pointed to the monitor in front of Dan, 'on this day only, so, if the image is fake, then someone will have altered the image of Speedle and Cheryl, to make it Cole and Cheryl.'

'You know, this is the kind of thing a crazed fan would love to be able to do,' said Dan, as he popped the first video into a player hooked up to another computer.

'I don't know if I should be alarmed at the excitement in your voice at that comment,' said Calleigh as she did the same with another tape and another computer.

They sat there for a few minutes in silence, watching the tapes on fast forward. 'Well, this tape is Cheryl getting there in the morning,' said Calleigh, ejecting it and putting in another, 'so this one's no good.'

'I think I've got it,' said Dan, a while later. 'No, wait. It's the wrong angle.'

'I've got it here,' exclaimed Calleigh, pausing the tape.

Dan switched to the middle computer and began pushing some buttons. The image was transferred into a split screen with the image of Cheryl and Cole. 'The Cheryl in both is identical.'

'We've got him,' said Calleigh.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Eric and Tim were sat in one of the interview rooms with John Whilks and his lawyer, and so far all he was saying was 'no comment.' Both CSIs were slowly beginning to lose patience with him.

Eric opened a file and pulled out some pictures. 'This here is a picture of Amber White, who I'm sure you are familiar with. Note the white substance around her nose,' he told him placing the picture in front of him.

'That white substance is cocaine, John,' said Speed, 'but I'm sure you already know that. Don't worry,' he told the lawyer, 'we're not assuming anything.'

'This here is a photograph of the table in the hotel room,' said Eric, laying another photograph in front of their suspect. 'Note the white substance there, too.'

'The white substance there is also cocaine,' explained Speed, 'but again, I'm sure you knew that.'

Eric pulled out another picture of the table, this time a close up of the cocaine. 'As you can see in this picture, there is some trace of a yellow substance in it.'

'And this yellow substance is pollen.' Speed said, placing a trace report in front of the PA, 'lily pollen.'

'This here, is the yellow substance we took a sample of from your shirt sleeve,' Eric placed a photo of the yellow stain on the shirt in front of him.

'Again, lily pollen.' Speed added.

'And this here is a bunch of flowers on display on your tour bus,' said Eric, placing a final photo in front of the suspect.

'Lilies.' Said Speed. 'A nice bouquet, too.' He leant forward, 'but here's the thing, John. Plant's, like animals, have DNA, and DNA is unique in everything. Even in plants, no two plants share the same DNA. And the pollen from this bouquet, the pollen from your shirt, and the pollen in this cocaine,' he pointed to the respective pictures, 'all match.'

'And that means, John, you not only like lilies, you also supplied Cole and the two girls with some cocaine.'

'And that also means,' added Speed, 'a jail sentence.'

'That's right,' snarled John, 'but with good behaviour, I'll be out in a few years.'

'Ah, but John, that's where you're wrong.' Eric sat back in his chair, 'by supplying the Cocaine, we have you for dealing, and manslaughter. And that's a little longer than a few years, especially with your record.'

'Oh,' said Speed as Whilks leant across and started whispering with his lawyer, 'we also have you as an accessory to murder, as well as trying to cover two up.'

Whilks sat back, 'I don't know what you mean.'

'Of course you do,' Speed said as he placed a final photograph in front of him. 'Does that look familiar?'

'It should,' said Eric, 'because that there, is the air conditioning thermostat, and on it, as you can see, we found your fingerprints.'

'You turned up the temperature in that room, to alter the two victim's time of death.'

Whilks just glared at them.

'And who says prison doesn't teach you anything,' Eric said to Speed as he gathered the photographs up.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Horatio was back at the hospital with Madison, sat next to her bed, watching her lie there. He was honestly feeling at the point of desperation right now. He was both surprised and not to find Yelina was unwilling to help the child. 'How is she feeling?' He asked Suzie, as he leant over and stroked Madison's hair. He had stopped by a while ago to inform her of the situation with Yelina.

'I don't know.' Suzie replied. She sounded exhausted and had probably not slept for a few days now. She certainly looked it. 'I mean, she's my daughter, so she's tough, right?'

Horatio smiled over at her. 'You both are.'

As if to prove a point about the fatigue, Suzie rubbed fiercely at her eyes. Or perhaps she was just trying to wipe away the tears before Horatio could spot them, 'chemo's wearing her out.'

Horatio leant back in his chair and sighed heavily. In all honesty, he was just as exhausted. Along with this with Madison, there was the situation with Cheryl, and the situation with Yelina. Not having his own family, he would do anything for his extended family, and his team. He always had their backs, even if it risked his. Having said that, he would have been the same, even if he had a wife and child. 'Yeah, well, that's normal.'

'We're out of options, aren't we?' She had a look in her eyes. Not one of upset, but one which was worse. One of acceptance.

'Suzie, we tried something, it didn't work. It doesn't mean we're out of options.' Horatio told her.

'So, what now?' Again, there was no bitterness there, although was the glimmer of a hope that Horatio could do something to save the day, like he always did.

'Well, there's the national board of donors.' Horatio said, both to reassure her and himself. 'There are other countries.' He continued, reeling of anything he could think of. 'But it's important we keep looking and that we do no give up hope.' He stopped at the sound of footsteps at the door. He looked over to find Yelina and Ray Jr. standing in the doorway.

Horatio go to his feet, his heart skipping a beat. Of course there was the possibility that Ray Jr. wouldn't be a match, but it was the fact that Yelina had come. He couldn't hide the joy from his face as he looked over at the waking child and then over to his nephew and his mother.

'You ready?' Yelina whispered to her son as she gently urged herself and him to enter the room.

Things wouldn't be fine with him and Yelina for a little while, but that was something that they could deal with afterwards.

* * *

**Well, just a note to say thank you for reading -you're all mad, I tell you, mad! It's is much appreciated. I hope I'm keeping the characters... in character. But, yeah, thanks for reading!**


	10. Chapter 10

Eric and Tim were back in the interview room, this time with Cole and his attorney. 'We've just arrested your personal assistant. Seems he did a pretty good job of doing what you wanted, even if it meant covering up murder.' Said Eric.

'Shame really. I bet good help is hard to find,' Speed added.

'My client has already told you he was not aware of any murder being committed, as he was asleep.' Said Cole's lawyer.

Eric smiled at him, before reaching into another folder and pulling out a photograph. This one was a close-up of the blunt force trauma that had been inflicted upon Xena Doman. 'This is a picture of the second victim, and as you can see, she received a bit of a heavy-handed hit.'

Cole shrugged, 'and?'

Speedle pulled out a piece of folded up paper and handed it over to the attorney. 'This here is a warrant.'

The attorney read the sheet, 'they want your ring?' Said the lawyer, both to inform Cole, and also to question the CSIs motives.

Cole looked down at the ring on his finger. It had a thick gold band with onyx and diamonds running around it. He shrugged, pulled it off and placed it on the table in front of Speed.

Speed bent over, opening his kit which was by his feet. He pulled out a pair of gloves and put them slowly on, before pulling out a piece of clay which he had pre-shaped into a smooth cube. He placed the cube in front of him, picked up the ring, and pressed it's sideinto the clay. Pulling out the ring, he set it to the side, before setting the impression next to the photograph.

'That impression, which you just witnessed me make, came from your ring.'

'I can see that.'

'Ah, good,' Eric said, 'so that means you can see that the impression matches the impression left behind in this girl's skull.'

Cole leant back in his chair and smiled. 'So what? I hit the girl. But that didn't kill her. She was alive when I went to sleep.'

Speed returned the smile. 'You're half right.'

'Yes,' Eric agreed, 'the hit didn't kill her.'

'But she was dead when you went to sleep.' Said Speed. 'And it was your hand that killed her.'

Cole leant forward, 'prove it.'

Eric grinned and turned to Speed, 'now isn't that a stupid thing to say to a criminalist?' Speed nodded. Eric turned his attention back to the pop star. He pulled out another photograph and laid it carefully in front of him. This one was a picture of the girl's face.

'Let me tell you what we think happened,' said Speed. 'Amber. Couldn't handle her cocaine and died. And then Xena here, she panicked, as I'm sure any normal person would do.'

'She was probably getting a little noisy at this point,' said Eric, 'so you shut her up. Hit her around the side of her head and knocked her unconscious.'

'So that temporarily solved the problem, but you still had a dead body on your hands. So you called your assistant. Now, between you, I don't know who, but one of you decided that the only way the other girl wasn't going to say something was if she was dead.'

'This is the part where we accuse you of murder,' interrupted Eric.

'You took your hand, placed it over her mouth and nose and smothered her. I'm guessing the method of murder was your assistant's idea, something he learnt from being inside. If there's no weapon, there's no trace of murder.'

'Which is true, in a sense,' agreed Eric. 'There may not be any evidence on the weapon, but there is evidence on the body.' He pulled out a final photograph and pointed. It showed a close-up of Xena's face, and the hand impression left there, accompanied by the ring impression.

'Maybe that assistant of yours wasn't all that great. I mean, he didn't tell you to remove the ring. And look at that, we've got you for murder.' Said Speed.

'Tell him the other bit, Speed,' said Eric.

'What?' Cole asked.

Speedle reached into the folder and pulled out a sheet of DNA samples. 'We pulled some condoms out of a trash can in your hotel room. The DNA on the inside matched you, and the DNA on the outside matched Amber White, and Xena Doman.'

Cole shrugged, 'so what? It was consentual.'

'Ah,' said Speed, 'technically, that's where you're wrong. For one girl, at least.'

Eric leant forward, clasping his hands together and resting them on the table, 'you see, Xena Doman was only fifteen, and that means you slept with a minor.'

'And that means a couple of extra years on your sentence.'

Cole shrugged again, 'so what?' He repeated, 'thanks to that Brit you've got working with you, this case is going to get thrown out of court. A word of advice to you: don't let someone so young, naïve and inexperienced work on something as important as this.'

Eric nodded to the mirror in the room, 'oh, on that note, we have someone who wants to talk to you.'

'A word of advice to _you_,' added Speed as the two CSIs got up to leave, 'in the distant future, when you eventually get out of prison. Should you ever find yourself committing a crime, don't ever ask a criminalist to prove something. Because they will.'

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

'He's all yours,' said Eric as he walked out of the room, Speedle right behind him.

'Thanks.' Said Calleigh. She put her hand on the door, and paused, 'Tim, go find Cheryl. Before it's too late.'

Speed looked at her before walking off without saying anything.

Calleigh shook her head. 'Are we fighting a lost cause here?'

'I don't know,' replied Eric, 'if he talks to her now, she'll forgive him.'

'But I think he's too stubborn. Or proud.' She said. 'Or both,' she added as an afterthought.

'She won't wait for him for long, that's for sure. She has more sense than that.'

Calleigh gave him a small smile and entered the room. She sat down opposite Cole, sitting where Eric had just sat, and placed a laptop in front of her. She waited a minute and the door behind her opened again. In walked Detective Tripp and sat down next to her, again.

'You two, again.' Muttered Cole.

'Hi,' greeted Frank.

'I'm not a big fan of television,' started Calleigh, 'I don't normally watch it. So you'll have to forgive me when I tell y'all that I don't watch the shows where three judges travel around the country trying to find the next big thing in music.'

'You're missing some quality TV there,' said Cole.

'Maybe.' Agreed Calleigh, 'however, I have people, like Detective Tripp here, who can fill me in on the highlights.'

Frank smiled uncomfortably.

'The detective here,' Calleigh said, leaning in, 'watched your show religiously. With his wife, of course.'

'Of course,' agreed Cole sarcastically.

'If the wife wants to watch something on the television, she watches it,' Frank said gruffly, 'if it's on in the background, I may half watch it.'

'Of course,' Cole repeated, in the same tone.

'Anyway,' said Calleigh, 'Detective Tripp told me something interesting about you.'

'Yes,' said Cole, leaning in to Calleigh, 'it really is that big,' he whispered.

Calleigh nodded slowly, 'I'm sure it is,' she whispered back, 'however, that's not the interesting thing I learnt about you today. No, what I learnt is that just before entering the show, you had just graduated from college. Iowa State, I believe. Not that bad a bad college, either. Now what was the degree you did? Something involving computers?'

'Media studies.'

'That's the one. And if I understand it correctly, you now have a degree which says you can manipulate images.'

'Amongst other things.'

'Talking of other things, another interesting thing I found out was that you have a college friend who managed to get a job working for the Miami Prophet.'

'Elle, yeah. So what?'

Calleigh opened her laptop and pressed a button. Onto the screen appeared the image of Cheryl and Cole which seemed like they had just been caught doing something. She turned the screen to face Cole.

'That picture isn't a fake,' Cole claimed, smugly.

'Nope. It's real.' Calleigh agreed, 'however,' she pressed a button and the picture was replaced by two others. The first was of Ryan and Cheryl in the same position, taken from the same angle, the picture next to it was the picture of the two taken from a different angle. 'As you can see, if you change the angle of the photograph, then the picture tells a very different story.'

'That doesn't mean nothing happened between us. The news proved that one.'

'And that is where the first interesting fact about comes into play.'

Cole shifted uncomfortably, 'oh yeah?'

'Yeah,' confirmed Frank.

'It was an excellent job. It must have been reassuring to know that when your music career dried up, you'd have a back up job.' She told him, a smile on her face. She pressed a button again, and the two pictures were replaced by the film of Cheryl and Cole actually kissing. 'It really is a good job,' admired Calleigh, 'you really do struggle to tell it's fake. However, when you compare it to this,' she showed him the film of Tim and Cheryl, and put the two side by side, 'you can see what you've done.'

'We've already had a word with your friend, Elle,' Frank added, 'she admitted to getting a copy of the original tape from the courthouse and giving it to you to manipulate. And we've also had a word with your PA and he's admitted to giving this phoney film to the news. So you're not getting out of these charges as easily as you thought.'

Cole slumped back into his chair, defeated.

'And that,' Calleigh added, as she shut her laptop and picked it up, 'is me fulfilling _my_ promise to you.' She got and started to leave, but stopped and turned back to Cole. 'Oh, and let me add a little more advice for y'all.' Cole lifted his head and looked at her, 'it doesn't matter how good you are, try to frame a CSI and we'll catch you in that lie.'

Frank looked at Calleigh, then to Cole, and frowned, 'well, if everyone is giving their advice, here's mine. Don't commit the crime in the first place.'

Calleigh gave a small chuckle, 'and that, Cole, is probably the best advice anyone could give you.' Cole glared at them both. Calleigh smiled at him and waltzed out of the room, leaving Frank to book him.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Cheryl was in the locker room, pacing up and down. She was mid-way through packing her stuff up for the day, but had become distracted again. She knew Calleigh had gone in to see Cole, but that had been ages ago. She was on her twelfth length of the room when Calleigh finally entered.

'You're clear,' Calleigh told her, her trademark smile on her face.

Cheryl returned the smile and sank to the bench. She let out an enormous sigh of relief and ran her hands through her hair. 'Thank you so much, Calleigh. I owe you big time.'

Calleigh shook her head, 'we're even. Y'all saved my job after that incident under the pier.'

Cheryl smiled and nodded, 'thank you,' she repeated.

'I spoke to the reporter who wrote that article,' Calleigh said as she sat down next to Cheryl on the bench, 'she told me where to go. So I spoke to her editor. The paper is going to write an apology tomorrow, and re-report the story correctly.'

'I'm hoping they won't have to,' said Cheryl, rubbing her forehead. 'I don't want the promotion. I don't deserve that promotion. In fact, after today, I'll just be happy if I don't get _de_moted.'

'You'll be fine.' Calleigh reassured her.

Cheryl nodded, 'I've got to go, Calleigh. I need to get to the hospital.'

'I hope Madison is doing better,' Calleigh told her as Cheryl grabbed her purse and shut her locker. She was locking it when Speed walked in. 'I'll catch you later,' Calleigh said to Cheryl, who, with her back to him, hadn't noticed him walk in.

Cheryl turned around and found she had been left with him. She bit her bottom lip and looked at him. He came into the room and went to his locker and instead of opening it, stared at the damage he had caused it earlier. 'We arrested Cole.' He said, staring at the door of his locker, without really looking at it.

Cheryl nodded, 'I know.' She waited for him to say something. He didn't. She sighed, 'are you going to be able to get home alright?' She asked him, thinking about the Hummer key which was in her pocket.

'Eric said he'd take me home.'

'Okay. I just didn't want you to be stranded here all night.' She told him. When he didn't say anything back, she picked up her purse and put it over her shoulder. 'Night, Tim.' She said quietly, and left, leaving him alone.

* * *

**Well, we're nearly there. Thanks for reading, and I'm glad y'all are liking it (?) Hopefully, the next chapter will be up by the middle of next week.**


	11. Chapter 11

Cheryl got to the hospital in record time. She drove fast most of the time, but she drove faster when she was upset about something. And today had been a long day. She was walking down the corridor to Madison's room when she spotted Horatio outside on his cell. As she walked over his call finished and he hung up, slipping his phone into his pocket.

'Are you sure you should be using that in here?' She asked him.

He smiled, 'that was Rick. He's not very happy – you're in the clear.'

Cheryl smiled back, 'yeah, Calleigh told me before I headed over here.'

Horatio sighed, 'Rick has managed to get one charge against you, though.'

'What?'

'A speeding fine.' Horatio put his hands on his hips and stared at her, 'I wish you would drive a little slower. And I don't ask that because it looks bad on the police force, either.'

'I know I drive fast, Horatio, but I'm a capable driver.'

'It's not you I worry about, it's everyone else on the road. Look,' he took a breath, 'look what happened to Eric when he got run off the road in a Hummer.'

Cheryl wrapped her arms around him, tears in her eyes, 'I'm sorry for everything, Horatio. You must be so disappointed in me.'

'I've never been disappointed. You just worry me sometimes.' He told her, hugging her back, 'if Ray was here, he would be incredibly proud of you. As it stands, you'll have to accept the pride coming from me.'

Cheryl took a step back, 'thank you, Horatio. I-' She stopped and and her mouth dropped open, her hand quickly rising to cover it.

Horatio turned around to see what had made Cheryl stop. 'Yelina,' he said softly.

'Horatio.'

'How long,' he started, 'how long have you been stood there.'

'Long enough,' she told him. She took as step towards him, 'Raymond is, was, Cheryl's father too, wasn't he?'

Cheryl nodded. 'I didn't find that out until after I had started here.'

'How long,' Yelina demanded, 'how long have you known, Horatio?'

'The day Speedle got shot.'

'The day she started here?' She cried. 'Who else knows?'

'Suzie, Madison, Calleigh, Valera, and Speedle,' Horatio tried to tell her gently.

'Valera! The lab technician?' She shouted.

Cheryl began to walk towards her, shaking her head, 'it's not like that,' she tried to tell her, 'Valera only knows because-'

Yelina stuck her hand out, 'just don't,' she said to her, cutting off. 'How long, Horatio, how long were you going to hide this from me?'

'Is everything alright out here?' Everyone turned around to find Suzie poking her head out of the door to Madison's room. 'Oh,' she said, seeing who was there and putting two and two together. She gave a small, nervous smile, and went back into the room.

'I… I can't deal with this,' Yelina said, her voice shaking. She turned around and left. Both Cheryl and Horatio stared after her, listening to her heels clicking on the tile floor.

'Aren't you going to go after her? Cheryl asked Horatio, tears in her eyes.

Horatio turned to look at her. She hadn't ever seen him look so upset. 'No,' he told her. He walked into Madison's room. Cheryl wiped her eyes and followed him.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Cheryl pulled into the Crime Lab parking lot with a squealing of brakes. She jumped out of her Hummer and hurried into the building, straight to the break room, before sinking onto the sofa. She was about ninety minutes early for work. Something that had become a reoccurring theme in the past five weeks.

Put simply, life had become a nightmare. Ever since the first newspaper article in the Miami Prophet, she had been hounded by their reporters. The Miami Prophet was nothing better than a tabloid magazine, and for some reason, it had nothing better to do than follow Cheryl. She was now resorting to leaving the house earlier and earlier just to try to escape the photographers.

And the irritating thing was that she hadn't even done anything in the first four weeks to warrant it. Not that she'd done anything to start off with, but that hadn't stopped them. The paper had printed an apology the following day, like Calleigh promised. And then the story about her saving the mayor's son had been reported properly. Something which the mayor had wanted out of the paper as he was about to start running his re-election campaign (and a kidnapping is never good publicity, especially when the papers were implying that he wasn't able to keep an eye on his son), and something Cheryl had just wanted to keep out of the paper anyway. And then, of course, there was the promotion issue, which, despite everything that had happened, the mayor was still insisting go ahead.

As a result of getting up earlier to leave the house, she was also getting grumpier, as mornings had never agreed with her. And finally, after four weeks, she had snapped. And hit at a photographer. Now, she had missed him. But Rick had come down on her, and it was only because of Horatio that she'd managed to escape with anger management counselling, and was currently on lab duty. Which was actually a blessing in disguise, as the reporters had taken to following her to crime scenes.

And the reporters had only been the half of it. She couldn't work with Tim or Yelina, and it wasn't without trying. Neither of them would speak to her, unless absolutely necessary, and in Tim's case, he wouldn't even look at her. It had come to the point where Horatio stopped assigning them cases together.

Tim. That was another story altogether. He'd moved all his things out of hers, and was doing his best to pretend she wasn't there. Cheryl had spent the first week sat by the phone, hoping he would ring, and although she would never admit it to anyone, had even rung it a few times from her cell phone, just to check it would work. But she hadn't rung him. She point blank refused. She had been tempted on severl occasions, but at the end of the day, she hadn't done anything, and she could only apologise so many times. Instead, she had spent many a sleepless night, tossing and turning. She was exhausted, physically, and mentally. And what upset her further, was she looked it.

After lying on the sofa for an hour, she decided to go do something she had been thinking a lot about, especially when she couldn't sleep. She got up off the sofa and headed to Horatio's office, knowing he would be there, despite it being early. He was, sat at his desk, staring out of the window. He turned around when Cheryl knocked on the door. 'Morning,' she said, as she sat down.

He smiled at her, 'you're still coming in early.'

Cheryl took a deep breath, 'Horatio, I can't do this anymore.'

'The reporters will get bored soon.'

She shrugged. 'It's been three weeks and they're still going strong, and if it weren't for the fact I'm stuck in the lab, they would still be following me to the crime scenes. And that's not fair on anyone I have to work with. But it's not just the papers. I don't think I can be in this building any more,' she gave a bitter laugh. 'I don't think I can stay in this city anymore.'

'Is it really that bad?'

'Horatio, Yelina and I can't work together. Things haven't been the same between you two since she found out. She accepted Madison because she doesn't have to look at her every day. Me being here is hurting me, hurting her, and hurting you. And then there's Tim. Everywhere I go, I'm reminded of him. Even at home. You'd think he was dead. He may as well be, for all the contact we've had with each other. I just can't do it anymore.'

'What are you saying?'

Cheryl shut her eyes in an unsuccessful attempt to stop the tears from running down her face. 'You have done so much for me, Horatio, and I don't think you'll every fully understand the extent of that, nor how much I appreciate it. But I need your help. I need to get out of here. Can you weave your magic and get me a transfer out of here. Anywhere. I'll go to the first place that will have me. I don't even care if it's in the middle of nowhere, Arizona. I'd thing I could even go back to England at this point.'

Horatio nodded, 'getting you somewhere else won't be a problem. And you wont have to go back to England. But are you sure you want to do this?'

Cheryl nodded back at him, 'look at me, Horatio. If I don't get out of here soon, this place will kill me.'

She was right, and he knew it. 'Go home,' he told his niece, 'go home and take the day off. You have some holidays available. Take them, and I'll find something for you.'

Cheryl gave her uncle a hug, a smile, and left his office, knowing it would be a long time before she would have to go in it again. She left the building without bumping in to anyone, being as it was still too early for anyone else to be in yet, hopped in her Hummer and drove home, where she collapsed onto her bed and fell asleep.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Cheryl was sat on the beach, two days later, watching the surf, feeling the wind blow through her hair and the sun on her face. She had managed to leave her house, by wearing a black coloured wig, without the reporters noticing, and had headed straight to the beach, where she was meeting Horatio.

'Black today?'

Cheryl looked up to find Horatio staring down at her in his trademark sunglasses. She smiled, 'I guess it's closer to my original hair colour.' When Cheryl had started at the Miami Dade Crime Lab, her hair had been a dark red-brown, but during the course of an undercover operation, which, coincidentally, didn't go according to plan, Cheryl had dyed her hair to alter her identity.

Horatio pulled up his trouser legs slightly, and crouched down next to her. 'I passed the word around that I had a criminalist who was looking for a change of scenery,' he smiled at her, 'I wanted them to ask for you, rather than it seem like you got the job entirely because of me, as I know it would help at your next job.'

'Did it work?' She asked him, uncertainly.

He pulled out a sheet of paper of his jacket pocket and handed it over. 'I got a fax this morning.'

Cheryl took it off him, a smile spreading across her face as she read. 'They want me to start at the beginning of next week.'

'I gave them a call, actually. They originally wanted you to start sooner, but I explained you would have to drive over there, rather than fly. I also did pull in a favour.'

'What?'

'I got you on the night-shift.'

'Thank you, Horatio. I guess I'd better start packing.' Her face fell, 'how am I going to get past the reporter?'

'Don't worry about that. You go and pack. I'll come around tomorrow and help you load up your Hummer.' He reassured her as they both rose to standing. Cheryl gave him a quick hug, before heading home to begin the daunting task of packing, feeling happier than she had done in a long time.


	12. Chapter 12

Cheryl looked around her apartment. Everything was in boxes, dotted about the living room. She had separated them into two stacks; the smaller of the twowere what she would take with her in her Hummer, the second was what she would have shipped after her in a few days.

Other than hooking a trailer up to her Hummer, and putting the boxes in it, the only thing she had left to do was unplug her music system, which was currently blaring out The Benjy Davis Project. Loud enough, in fact, that she didn't hear the knock at the door, and turned around to find Horatio, Eric, Calleigh and Alexx walking through the door. She turned the music down and smiled at them. 'Morning, all.'

'Hi, Cheryl.' Said Eric, 'we're here to help you move.'

'What about the problem of those reporters out there?'

'Don't worry about them,' said Calleigh, from underneath a baseball cap. 'We have an idea. But we wanted to give you a leaving present first.'

Cheryl smiled, 'thank you, but you didn't have to do that.'

'Don't thank them yet,' said Horatio, 'you haven't seen what these three got you, yet.'

'Are you sure I want to have this,' she asked them warily, suddenly conscious Eric had had a hand in picking it.

Eric grinned and handed over a box which he had been holding behind his back. Cheryl took it off him, indicating to them to sit down on the couch, whilst she undid the bow and pulled off the lid. She opened the box and burst out laughing. The first thing she pulled out was a bullet proof vest, which had a removablered and white target painted on the back, and Miami Dade PD transfer on the front, underneath her surname. She put it to the side, and pulled out the next item, which was a stress ball, followed by an alarm clock, and a little black box with an LCD display and suckers.

'That goes on your dashboard. It transmits to a satellite, picks up a return transmission, and beeps at you when you speed.' Explained Delko. 'It has a different pitch for police radars that are in the vicinity.'

'I hope you bought yourself one,' said Cheryl.

'Why would Eric need one?' Horatio asked.

Cheryl chuckled at the panicked expression which was filling Eric's eyes. 'Just a private joke, Horatio.'

Horatio frowned, and Cheryl was pretty certain he didn't believe her. Having said that, she was pretty certain he knew anyway. She'd be very surprised, and perhaps a little disappointed if he didn't.

'Yeah, just a joke,' Eric hurriedly agreed.

'I'm sure it is,' said Horatio, with a little wink at Cheryl. She wasn't disappointed.

She turned her attention to the last item in the box. It was a framed picture of the team, taken back when she'd started. Or at least after her and Tim had been released from hospital, and she still had brown hair. She stared wistfully at it. Things had been different then, and everybody in the picture looked happy. Even Yelina.

'Thanks guys.'

'Oh, honey,' said Alexx, 'did you really think we'd sent you off without a serious gift?'

'I wasn't expecting one to start with, serious or not,' she smiled, 'and what I have here is more than enough.'

'Honey, we aren't letting you go until you have something that will fill the void that was us. And we don't want you forgetting us too quickly.'

'Alexx, corny as this seems, I'm not going to forget you guys.' She told her, 'although, I suppose you could be replaced.'

'Hey!' Exclaimed Eric, giving her a small push, 'we're irreplaceable.'

Cheryl shrugged. 'I suppose you have left some lasting marks. You in particular, Calleigh.' She laughed. 'Bullets leave a lasting mark.'

Calleigh laughed back, 'your other present is outside the door.'

Cheryl got up and headed over to her door, a curious expression on her face. She opened the door and looked ahead. Inside, a huge part of her was hoping that the others had convinced Tim to come and say goodbye. Or ask her to stay. He wasn't there though. She looked down and saw another box.

'Don't blame me,' Horatio quickly said, 'but I would advise you to open that quite quickly.'

As if to emphasise his comment, the box made a quack.

Cheryl dropped to her knees, 'please tell me you didn't,' she cried, as she pulled the lid off. 'You did!' Inside, curled up in one of the corners, head tucked up under its wing, was a bird. More specifically, a goose. Or, even more specifically, a gosling. She scooped the small creature up into her arms, 'how did you know?'

'A little bird told me.' Said Eric.

'Eric, that was truly dreadful,' exclaimed Calleigh, amidst the groans.

'Sorry, Cheryl.' Said Horatio. 'I did try to warn you.'

'Are you kidding? He… she… it's great!'

'It's a he,' said Alexx. 'I got my kids to help pick him. Which was a stupid idea, really, because now they want one.'

'What are you going to call him?' Asked Eric.

'I don't know. I always wanted a goose. I was going to call one Graham, if I had one. But Graham just doesn't suit this walking pillow.'

'The kids were calling him Eddie.'

'Eddie?' The gosling quacked. 'Now, I don't know if that's him telling me he likes that name,' said Cheryl, 'but, I'm going to pretend he can understand me. And is agreeing with me,' she added as an afterthought. 'Eddie. Yeah, that will do.' She brought the box in and put Eddie back in it, leaving the lid off. 'But how am I going to get out of here?'

Calleigh walked over and took her hat off, putting it on Cheryl's head. 'I need to go to the Lab.'

'The reporters outside saw one blonde enter the house, and they'll see one blonde leave.' Horatio explained to her.

Cheryl grinned, 'I like it.'

'So do I,' agreed Calleigh. 'It means I get to get out of the lifting.'

The two blondes headed into Cheryl's bedroom and quickly swapped clothes, so Calleigh was wearing Cheryl's shorts, fitted t-shirt, running shoes, and baseball cap, and Cheryl was wearing Calleigh's jeans, boots, tank top, and baseball cap.

'Have a safe trip,' said Calleigh to Cheryl, before the others left, 'and y'all had better ring me often.'

'I will,' Cheryl told her, as she gave her a hug goodbye. She left, with Horatio, Alexx and Eric, and headed to the Crime Lab Hummer Horatio had driven them there in, leaving Calleigh in Cheryl's apartment, pretending to be her. The four got in the Hummer, and left the complex, driving round the block, and parking up.

'Now what?' Cheryl asked, peering out the back window to see if they had been followed, which they hadn't.

'Now you're going for a run.' Eric said, pulling out his cell phone. 'Or, at least, that's what the reporters are going to think.'

'Hmmm, not a bad plan.' Admired Cheryl, sitting back and relaxing. About fifteen minutes later, Eric's phone rang. It was Calleigh.

'She's heading to the beach.' He told them, after he hung up. 'She says if it's going to take longer than a couple of hours, give her a call, and she might go get a manicure.'

'The reporter will like that,' Cheryl laughed, as Horatio drove back into the apartment complex. They all jumped out and began the task. Cheryl and Alexx attached her trailer to her Hummer, whilst Eric and Horatio began loading up her Hummer and Skyline with boxes. As soon as the Skyline was packed, Cheryl drove it onto the trailer and secured it, with Alexx's help, as the two men continued to pack the boxes.

Between the four of them, it took an hour. Cheryl shut the trunk to her Hummer and turned to the other three.

'Take care, sweetie,' said Alexx, as the two women hugged, 'you show them how we do things in the sunshine state.'

'Yeah,' agreed Eric, enveloping her in his arms as Cheryl turned to him. 'They aren't going to know what hit them. A twenty-three year old CSI 4, who has the looks and mentality of a teenager, but the brains of someone twice her age, a temper which could rival a wound up hornet, who drives too fast, sings too loud, doesn't-'

'Eric,' interrupted Cheryl, 'are you telling me goodbye under all that?'

Eric smiled, 'take care of yourself, kid. And if you ever need anything, just pick up the phone.'

Cheryl finally turned to Horatio and handed him her apartment keys. 'The truck will be here the day after tomorrow to get my furniture and things. The keys want to go to the landlord as soon as they're done. Are you sure you don't mind?'

'Of course not.' He told her. 'Be careful, wont you. I don't want a phone call saying you killed yourself driving too recklessly. And please stay away from bullets, if you can. You may have the title of a detective, but you will be a CSI there, and they have different policies. And if you ever,' he told her, 'if you _ever_ want to come back, there will always be a place for you, at least whilst I'm in charge.' He took off his sunglasses and looked at his niece. 'Just stay safe,' he finished, before also giving her a hug.

Cheryl smiled at them, 'I'm just going to double check the oil.'

'We'll go then,' said Horatio. He gave her a final hug and a kiss on the cheek, before they got in the Hummer and left.

Cheryl walked around to the driver's side, popped the hood, and buried her head under it, pretending to do something, instead wiping away her tears. She gave herself a few minutes then, after actually checking the oil, dropped the hood. She headed into her apartment, which they had left the door open to, for the last time. She changed into some of her own clothes, which she would be more comfortable driving in, before picking up the final thing to go into Hummer: Eddie. Cheryl strapped his box into the front seat, shut the door and turned around to walk straight into someone.

'Tim!' She gave him an uncomfortable smile. 'I didn't think you would come.'

'I nearly didn't'

'Oh.'

'I'm sorry it had to come to this.'

'So am I,' Cheryl agreed. 'Tim, nothing happened between me and Cole. I never even considered it.'

'I know,' he sighed. 'I think… I just couldn't believe that someone like you would ever want to be with someone like me.'

Cheryl shook her head. 'That's what I thought too. About you, I mean.' She sighed. 'I wish things had turned out differently.'

'Is it too late for that?'

Cheryl looked at him and nodded. 'I think so.' She sighed again, 'I have waited five weeks for you to say that.'

'So don't go. Stay.'

'I can't, Tim. I need to get out of here. It's not just you. It's Horatio. He gives and gives, for all of us - not just me. He always has our back and is forever putting his neck on the line to protect us. The least I can do is return the favor. He is going to work himself to a heart attack soon, and I'm no angel. And the whole situation with Yelina... She'll forgive him, but not whilst I'm here.' She leant back against the Hummer, 'I need to go.'

'I thought as much.' He said sadly. 'I was out one day, and I saw this. It was whilst we were together,' he said, pulling something out of his pocket, 'I was going to give you this for your birthday next week, but things… well, you know. Anyway, I didn't want to return it, so consider it a leaving present.' He handed her a small box. 'Or better yet, an apology.'

Cheryl took it off him and opened it. Inside was a white gold necklace, with a white gold cross pendent, like a kiss, on the chain, with a small emerald in the bottom right of it. Cheryl gaped at it, 'Tim, this is beautiful!' She looked up at him, 'I can't accept this.'

'No, I want you to have it.' He said, taking the chain out of the box and putting it on her.

'Thank you,' she said, wiping a tear from her cheek. 'I should go, before the reporters get back.'

Tim nodded. 'I know.' He leant over and kissed her. 'Take care of yourself, and have fun.' He told her finally, before heading over to his bike and also leaving.

Cheryl watched him drive off, before getting into her Hummer and starting the engine. She wiped the final tears from her eyes and pulled away, turning her stereo, and James Blunt's _Goodbye My Lover _up loud. She was off to the original Sin City.

_And I will bear my soul in time,  
When I'm kneeling at your feet.  
Goodbye my lover.  
Goodbye my friend.  
You have been the one.  
You have been the one for me.  
I'm so hollow, baby, I'm so hollow.  
I'm so, I'm so, I'm so hollow._

* * *

**So, that's the end of the Miami 'editions'. I think I mentioned a few times this was based on a really... bizarre... dream I had, ages ago now. Besides, I'm a bit bored of the characters anyway! Well, not bored of them, just wanting to work with some different personalites. It's all going to end up with a nice big cross-over between the three CSIs (which I am still waiting for CBS to do! In the meantime, I will have to suffice with what is going on in my crazy imagination.)**

**Please don't be mad at me for things ended with Speed and Cheryl (in my defence, in the dream, Speeddied, and I wasn't about to let that happen again!) Plus it allows for Ryan and Speed to work together. Heh heh heh, that would have been interesting.**

**I hope this doesn't loose too many of you, and if you want to continue reading, I'll be in the Las Vegas section, for a while, anyway!**

**Thank you sooo much for reading and for all the reviews. I'm glad you've enjoyed reading! (!)**

**Axellia**


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